


Formal Discipline from the Stand- 

point of Experimental 

Psychology 



A THESIS 

presented to the 

Department op Psychology 

Leland Stanford Junior University 



IN PARTIAL fulfillment OF TliK 
requirements for the DEGREE oi 

Doctor of Philosophy 



By 



JOHN EDGAR COOVER 



April 8, 1912 
[Published as No. 87 of the Psychological Monograph.] 



Formal Discipline from the Stand- 
point of Experimental 
Psychology 



A THESIS 

presented to the 

Department of Psychology 

Leland Stanford Junior University 



IN partial fulfillment of the 

requirements for the degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy 



By 
JOHN EDGAR COOVER 



April 8, 1912 
[Published as No. 8: of the Psychological Monographs.] 









$^ 



\^ 



\(^ 




PREFATORY NOTE 

The writer was driven into this problem some years ago 
through reaction to instruction he was then receiving in educa- 
tion. He owes a debt of gratitude to those men who so faithfully 
and painstakingly retailed the newest notions culled from hereti- 
cal theory or hatched from the early and somewhat hasty labora- 
tory work. Interest was more fundamental in school training, in 
those days, than attention, suggestibility than obedience, and vo- 
cational training than mental training. Sherrington's 'spinal 
dog'^ had not yet removed by the skillful use of its scratch-reflex, 
the *reflex-arc' from the vertebrate nervous system, and it 
was supposed that we had been endowed with a mechanism 
by which reactions to stimuli could be literally 'specific'; school 
training consisted in 'specific discipline,' which was hysterically 
opposed to 'formal discipline.' Nor had the "All or None" 
principle of the terrapin heart,^ yet suggested for mental develop- 
ment the efficacy of strenuous innervation; training needed no 
spur but interest. Generous acknowledgment of all those incen- 
tives is hereby recorded; without them this investigation would 
not have been made. 

The writer is under many other obligations : First and fore- 
most to the Head of the Department of Psychology, Dr. F. An- 
gell, whose courteous extension of laboratory facilities and whose 
encouragement, advice, and assistance, have put the writer hope- 
lessly in debt ; to Professor Lillien J. Martin, for kindly interest 
and helpful suggestions ; to Miss Ruth Adele Sampson for valued 
assistance in the correction of the manuscript ; and to the follow- 
ing groups, almost wholly of fellow-students, who cheerfully and 
faithfully performed the onerous yet indispensable offices of 
reagents; those whose names are starred underwent periods of 
arduous training besides taking the tests : 

* Sherrington : Integrative action of the nervous system. 1906. Ch. IV. 

* Stiles : Am. Phys. Ed., 1910, 15 : i-S- 



iv PREFATORY NOTE 

In the experiments on Word-Marking and Weight- Lifting: 
*Mr. Geo. Snow-Gibbs. 



In the experiment on Discrimination : 

*Mr. G. Altnow, 
*Mr. T. Nakamura, 
*Mr. K. Yasuda, 

In the experiment on Reaction with 
*Miss E. Crandall, 
*Dr. F. Angell, 
*Miss Evelyn Brooks, 

Miss Reba Bland, 

Miss Rowena C. Bush, 

Miss Luella E. Behrens, 

In the experiment on Attention : 

*Miss Christine Madison, 
*Miss Elizabeth F. Lanktree, 
*Miss Susan M. Looney, 
*Mr. William T. Root, 
*Mr. Joel A. Snell, 
*Mr. Arthur Heche, 
*Dr. F. Angell, 

Mrs. Margaret E. Coover, 

Mr. Franklin F. Wolff, 

Miss Helen M. Clift. 

Miss Emma G. Gill, 

Miss Beatrice E. Freuler, 

Miss Ruth A. Sampson, 

Miss Rose F. Emery, 

Miss Bertha Van Zwalenburg, 

In the experiment on Reproduction: 
*Miss Alma Holmes, 
♦Miss Gertrude D. Workman. 
*Mr. William T. Root, 

Miss Susan M. Toy, 

Miss Mabel I. Clark, 

Miss M. Dorothy Parkinson, 

Miss Nellie Allen, 



Miss Bernice C. Rowell, 
Miss Bonnye Anderson, 
Miss Gertrude B. Weaver. 

Discrimination and Choice : 

Miss Mabel McKibben, 
Mr. H. George, 
Mr. Geo. Snow-Gibbs. 
Miss Mila L. Coffin, 
Miss Ruth Cain, 
Miss Anita E. Sudden, 



Miss Ray Weaver, 
Miss Helen E. Evans, 
Miss Edith G. Engelhard, 
Miss Maud H. Bassett, 
Miss Nina E. Moise, 
Mr, Geo. L. Righter, 
Mr. Charles L. Allen, 
Mr. Asa C. Dimon, 
Mr. Roscal L. Draper, 
Mr. Stanley M. Reeve, 
Mr. Lloyd I. Tilton, 
Mr. Alexander Davis, 
Mr. Merton J. Price, 
Mr. Zeb. A. Terry, 
Mr. Robert W. Wilcox. 



Miss Mabel B. Angell, 
Miss Ruth Hutchinson, 
Mr. Harold A. Hughes, 
Mr. William H. Bloeser, 
Mr. E. Leib, 
Mr. Earl T. Dutton, 
Mr. Herbert L. Hubbard. 



CONTENTS 



PART I. ORIENTATION 

I. Introduction i 

II. Evidence from the literature of relationship between 

mental processes 5 

1. Habituation to Distraction 5 

2. Sensitivity 5 

3. Discrimination 6 

4. Association 7 

5. Reaction 9 

a. Interference 10 

6. Memory 14 

7. Voluntary control 30 

8. Summary 31 

PART II. EXPERIMENTAL 

I. Principally Quantitative 34 

1 . Experiments on the more complex processes 34 

a. Marking out words 34 

( I ) Conclusion 36 

b. Estimating weights 39 

( I ) Conclusion 41 

2. Experiments on the more simple processes 42 

a. Sensible discrimination 42 

( 1 ) Control experiment 44 

(2) Results 44 

(3) Conclusion 46 

b. Reaction with discrimination and choice .... 50 

(i ) Control experiment 52 

(2 ) Results 53 

(a) Errors 53 

(b) Time 56 

(3) Conclusion 61 



CONTENTS 



II. Principally Qualitative 64 

I. Experiment on Attention (Variability in mental 



e. 



J- 



processes) 70 

The tests 72 

The training 73 

Apparatus and procedure 74 

The training results 82 

(i) Extensive threshold of attention 82 

(2) Learning 12-letter-rectangles 94 

(3) Reaction to sound loi 

(4) Memory training 103 

The test results 106 

( 1 ) Reaction to sound 108 

(2) Marking out a's 113 

(3) Marking out o's 116 

(4) Card-sorting 118 

(5) Typewriter-reaction 126 

(6) Controlled reaction 131 

(7) Sound discrimination 134 

(8) Memory of sounds 138 

(9) Memory of consonants 142 

10) Memory of numerals 145 

11) Memory of visual signs 148 

12) Memory of associated pairs 149 

13) Learning 12-letter-rectangles. Free. . 150 

14) Same (With distraction) 154 

15) Word-completion 157 

16) Trains of ideas 158 

17) Extensive threshold of visual atten- 
tion. Free 160 

18) Same (With distraction) '. . 163 

19) Tapping 164 

Extent of variability 167 

Causes of variability 171 

The practice curve 173 

General effect of special practice 178 

Conclusion 181 



Experiment on Reproduction 184 

a. The tests 186 

b. The traininar • • 188 



CONTENTS vii 

c. Training results 190 

( 1 ) Processes 190 

(2) Quantitative 196 

d. Test results 199 

(i) Recognition or choice of one of two 

letters 199 

(a) Introspective analysis 199 

(b) Quantitative analysis 200 

(2) Reproduction and recognition of letters 205 

(3) Sound discrimination 206 

(a) Processes 206 

(b) Scores 211 

(4) Memory for visual symbols 211 

(a) Processes 211 

1 ) Immediate memory 212 

2) Complete learning 212 

(b) Scores 214 

i) Immediate memory 214 

2) Complete learning 215 

(c) Summary 217 

e. Conclusion 217 

3. Critique of the Test-training-test type of experi- 

ment 219 

4. Analysis of the 'Common Factor' 224 

a. Factors involved in a single experiment .... 226 

b. Practice-efifect upon these factors 227 

c. 'Spread of Training' 230 

d. 'Transference' 230 

e. Both kinds of General Effect selected from 

former experience 231 

f. Provisional classification of Common Factors 232 

III. Conclusion 234 

IV. Bibliography 243 

APPENDIX A. 

Marking out words (Text pp. 34ff), Tables I-II, Plates 

I-VII 259, 261 

Estimating weights (Text pp. 39ff), Tables III-X, 

Plates VIII-XII 260, 268 

Sensible discrimination (Text pp. 42ff), Tables XI-XIX 269 
Reaction with discrimination and choice (Text pp. 

5off), Tables XX-XXVIII, Plates XIII-XVIII. . . 274 



viii CONTENTS 

APPENDIX B. Data relevant to the Experiment on Attention, 

(Text pp. 7off) 

Fig. I. Symbol on cards (Text p. 76) 288 

Fig. 2. Arrangement of compartments (Text p. 76) . 288 

Fig. 3. Instruction to reagents (Text p. 76) 288 

Fig. 4. Sample line of stimuli for typewriter-reaction 

(Text pp. 52, 76) 289 

Fig. 5. Classes of scientists, etc. (Text p. 77) 289 

Fig. 6. Series of stimuli in test on Controlled reaction 

(Text p. yy) 289 

Fig. 7. Series of intervals in Sound discrimination 

(Text pp. 77, 78, 188) 290 

Fig. 8. Symbols used in recording judgment 

(Text p. 78) 290 

Fig. 9. Series in memory of sounds (Text p. 78) ... . 290 
Fig. 10. Series for Memory of consonants, digits, 

paired associates (Text p. 79) 290 

Fig. II. Visual signs (Text p. 79) 291 

Fig. 12. Size and style of letter used in Tests 13 and 

17 (Text pp. 80, 82) 291 

Fig. 13. Word-Completion list of letters (Text p. 80). 291 
Fig, 14. Practice curves of Training on Extensive 
threshold of visual attention (like Test 17) 

(Text pp. 83, 93) 291 

Fig. 15. Practice curves of Training on Learning 12- 

letter-rectangles (like Test 13) (Text p. 94) 292 
Fig. 16. Curves showing increase in complexity of pro- 
cess as effect of practice in Learning 12- 

letter-rectangles (Text pp. 95, 176) 292 

Fig. 17. Curves showing change in kind of product as 
effect of practice in Learning 12-letter- 

rectangles (Text p. 174) 293 

Fig. 18 Curves showing change in processes in Train- 
ing on Simple Reaction to sound (Text 
p. loi) 294 

APPENDIX C. Scoring the 12-letter-rectangle (Text 

pp. 80, 187) 295 

APPENDIX D. Influence of subliminal differences upon 
judgment in stimulus comparison (discrim- 
ination) (Text p. 185) 299 

INDEX 301 



PARTI 

ORIENTATION 
I. Introduction 

The conception of formal discipline^ belongs to the philosophy 
of education, and has dominated the educational theory of the 
greater institutions of higher learning from their inception to 
the present day. Twenty years ago it was vigorously assailed, 
however, by some of our eminent educators^ who claimed that 
our schools are suffering under the bonds of this tradition. It 
was charged that the conception is a myth; that the sole end of 
study is the information acquired by it; that no subject of study 
is of greater value than another except upon grounds of adjust- 
ing the student directly to his social, economic, industrial, en- 
vironment. It was explained that the 'Dogma' rests upon the 
'faculty psychology' which lies respectably buried under the dust 

* Formal Culture: (formale Bildung; education formelle). The doctrine 
of the applicability of mental power, however gained, to any department of 
human activity. This doctrine is used as a standing argument for so-called 
disciplinary education, especially that in pure mathematics and classical 
languages. The assumption is that if the student masters these, he will 
thereby acquire a mental power that can be applied almost equally well 
to any kind of practical or professional life. This gymnastic theory of 
education involves the idea that it does not matter upon what the mind is 
exercised, provided only the exercise be rigorous and long-continued. — 
DeGarmo in Baldwin's "Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology." 

This expression has been used to indicate the general reaction upon the 
ability of a student that is by many -supposed to spring from the method of 
study rather than from the content which is learned. — Ernest N. Henderson, 
in "A Cyclopedia of Education," edited by Paul Monroe. N. Y. : Macm. 1911. 
P. 642. 

' Vid. Hinsdale, B. A. : The dogma of formal discipline. Proc. N. E. A., 
1894, P- 625; also his book "Studies in Education," Ch. 2. 

DeGarmo : "On the report of the Committee of Ten." Ed. Rev. 1894, 

7 -^y?. 

Rein: Outlines of Pedagogics (tr. Van Liew) 1895. P. 61. 
DeGarmo: Herbart and the Herbatians. P. 26. 



2 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

of a century, and that its continued vitality is derived from its 
momentum in a field in which the 'resistance' of modern experi- 
mental psychology is wanting. It is true that the challenge was 
made by men of 'Herbartian' training, that the formal defini- 
tions of the conception were made by them and would not be 
entirely satisfactory to proponents, and that the Herbartian psy- 
chology is equally dead. 

Nevertheless, the point in dispute has shifted into psycho- 
logical territory, and it is for this reason that Experimental 
Psychology has come in contact with the venerable doctrine. 

The psychological question at issue concerns the relations 
which exist between the various mental processes. According 
to the 'faculty psychology,' the improvement of observation, or 
of reasoning, or of memory, or of any of the thirty-five faculties 
of the mind, in one field of experience was applicable to all other 
fields of experience; but improvement of one 'faculty' did not 
aflfect others. According to the Herbartian psychology, these 
'faculties' are abstractions, adding nothing to fact and affording 
no explanation of mental phenomena;^ the Idea"* is the sole real 
content of the mind and through it alone are mental phenomena 
unified. Training of the mind is effected through the appropria- 
tion of ideas and is limited in its applications to the field of ex- 
perience to which the ideas belong. Both of these psychologies 

^ Herbart's criticism of the 'faculty theory' lies in the two following ob- 
jections: (i) 'Faculties' are mere possibilities; there is no sensibility before 
sensation ; (2) they are class-concepts, obtained by a provisional abstraction 
from the inner experience, and then raised to the rank of fundamental forces 
of the mind and used for the explanation of our internal processes. Both 
criticisms are as telling against the established sciences of physics and 
chemistry as against the 'faculty-theory.' (i) The forces of physics do 
not exist apart by themselves any more than do the 'faculties,' but only 
in the phenomena called their effects; (2) they are abstracted from the con- 
crete phenomena and are class-concepts used for the explanation of the 
phenomena themselves. According to the criticism, there is no gravitation 
before the falling of the apple, nor can it as a class-concept, be used to 
explain the fall of the apple. 

* This Idea, as well as its relations to the emotions, feelings, and im- 
pulses, is hypothetical and does not at all square with the facts of inner 
experience. Vid. Wundt: Prin. of Phys. Psychology. (From Ger. Ed. 1893.) 
Pp. i8ff. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 3 

have performed their service in the development of the science 
and are now of but historical interest. The question, therefore, 
so far as their authority goes, remains open. 

Special observation and investigation have sought to throw 
some light on the problem : 

(i) The contribution of formal school training to success or 
eminence in practical life has been estimated.^ (2) The relation- 
ship between undergraduate scholarship and preeminence in the 
graduate schools of law and medicine has been reported,® and 
the standing of our Rhodes scholars has been compared with that 
of their fellows in Oxford who had followed similar (classical) 
courses but with more rigorous training.^ (3) Experimental 
pedagogy has already contributed a large amount of data con- 
cerning the relationship between capacities employed in school 
work or between school subjects.^ (4) And the data of Cross- 

''Halleck: Proc. N. E. A., Dep't of Superintendence. 1906. Pp. 34-41. 

Pritchett : Fifth annual report of the President and the Treasurer of 
the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching. 1910. P. 56. 

Dexter : High-Grade Men in College and out. Pop. Sci. Mo., 1903. 62 :429. 

Schuster : The promise of youth and the performance of manhood, a 
statistical inquiry. Univ. London. Galton Eugenics Laboratory Memoirs. 

1907. in. 

Lowell : Appendix to report of the President and the Treasurer of Har- 
vard College. 1908-1909. 

Davis: An afternoon view of college life. Stanford Alumnus, 1912, 13:231. 

E.g., Cases as extreme as the following can scarcely be ignored : Every- 
one knows how formal and how unrelated to occidental affairs is the dis- 
cipline Chinese officials have undergone, yet "it is not on record in Washing- 
ton that the other foreign legations are in the habit of making allowance 
for any lack of acumen on the part of the Chinese legation; on the con- 
trary, the Chinese legation is regarded as one of the ablest accredited to 
this country." F. Angell, in a Commencement Address at Castellejo School, 
Palo Alto, California, 191 1. 

' Lowell : College studies and the professional schools. Harvard Grad- 
uate Mag., 1910, 19:205. 

'Pritchett: Ibid. p. 65. 

'Catherine Aiken: Methods of mind training. Am. Bk. 1895. 

Harper's Mag. Editorial by Charles Dudley Warner. March, 1895. 

Winch : Accuracy in school children. Does improvement in numerical 
accuracy transfer [to accuracy in arithmetical reasoning] ? Jr. Ed. Psych., 
1910, 1:557. 



4 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Education have been found to contribute something toward an 
understanding of the 'general' nature of voluntary control in its 
various phases.^ 

It rests, how^ever, with experimental psychology to determine 
precisely the kind and extent of relationship that exists between 
the various mental processes, and this task appears to be well 
begun. There are already at hand some results pertinent to the 
question to be found scattered throughout the literature; and as 
a result of direct experimental investigation, the extent and 
causes of positive and negative influences upon one set of mental 
processes by reason of training upon another are, within the 
limits of the respective investigations, revealed. To these results 
we shall now turn, in the next chapter, before detailing our own 
experimentation in this laboratory. 

Winch : Further work on Numerical accuracy in school children. Idem. 
2:262. 

Starch : Transfer of training in Arithmetical operations. Jr. Ed. Psych., 
191 1, 2:306. 

Wallin : Spelling efficiency in relation to age, grade and sex, and the 
question of transfer. Ed. Psy. Monograph. Warwick, 191 1. 

Winch : Transfer of improvement in memory in school children. Br. Jr. 
Psych., 1908, 2:284; 3:386. 

Winch : Some relations between substance memory and productive im- 
agination in school children. Idem. 191 1, 4:95. 

Bagley : Educative process. 1907, Ch. XIII, p. 208. 

Ruediger: Indirect improvement of mental function through ideals. Ed. 
Rev., 1908, 36:364. 

'Scripture, Smith, and Brown: On the education of muscular control 
and power. Yale Psych. Studies, 1894, 2:115. 

Scripture : Recent investigations at the Yale Laboratory. Psych. Rev., 
1898, 6:246. 

Scripture: Cross-Education. Pop. Sci. Mo., 1900, 56:589. 

Davis: Researches in Cross-education. Yale Psych. Studies, 1898, 6:6; 
1900, 8:64. 

Woodworth : Accuracy of voluntary movement. Psych. Rev. Mon., No. 
13. 1899. 

Dresslar : Some influences which affect rapidity of voluntary movements. 
Am. Jr. Psych., 1892, 4:514- 

Raif: Ueber Fingerfertigkeit beim Clavierspiel. Zeits. f. Psychol., 1900, 
24 :352-5. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 5 

II. Evidence From the Literature of Relationship 
Between Mental Processes 
The results of experimentation in the psychological laboratory 
that have come before the writer's notice and that have a direct 
bearing upon the question of the kind and extent of relationship 
between mental processes, are portrayed here in topical fashion, 
which takes them out of their chronological order, with the hope 
that the grouping of evidence about the various types of mental 
activity will prove more satisfactory to the reader. The year 
of the published results can be seen in the foot-note references. 

I. Habituation to Distraction 
Vogt^" found that reacting on every stroke of a mentronome 
decreased the amount of continuous adding 47.7% ; that seven 
days' practice reduced this to 14% ; that the effect of distraction 
upon adding caused by synchronously reciting series of letters 
was decreased by practicing adding alone ; that the adaptation to 
the distraction of reciting series of letters while adding reduced 
the distraction of reacting to the stroke of the metronome while 
learning series of numbers by heart. Among his conclusions are : 
(i) An adaptation (Gewohnung) carries over from one special 
process to another; (2) Becoming habituated to a distraction 
while exercising one function, habituates to that distraction while 
exercising other functions. 

2. Sensitivity 
Urbantschitsch^^ sought to determine whether there is a cross- 
effect (Wechselwirkung) between the senses. "While a uniform 
excitation was present to one sense a sensation was occasioned 
through another, from which I perceived accurately during the 
functioning of the new sense if there were any changes in the 
sensation of the originally stimulated sense." Listening to a tone 
lowered the limen for light ; it also affected olfactory, gustatory, 

"Vogt: Ueber Ablenkbarkeit und Gewohnungsfahigkeit. Psy. Arbeit., 
1899-1900, 3 :62. 

" Urbantschitsch : Uber den Einfluss einer Sinneserregung auf die ubrigen 
Sinnesempfindungen. Archiv f. d. ges. Physiologie, 42:1 54- 



6 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

tactual, and thermal sensations. "The influence of one sense- 
excitation upon the sensations from other senses appears clearly 
to be a valid physiological law." 

Epstein^^ set himself to either controvert or support Urbant- 
schitsch's results by more carefully controlling the conditions of 
the experiment. He sought to find the influence of a sound- 
sensation upon (a) acuteness of vision, (b) acuteness of color- 
perception. The observer sat in a dark room and placed his eye to 
a telescope ; the cap was removed and he reported the number of 
concentric rings on a rotating disc ; the second stimulus was given 
during this fixation and he reported changes in the field of vision 
occasioned by it. 164 Experiments were made. Upon 60% of 
the reagents the sound impression increased both acuteness of 
vision and acuteness of color-perception; upon the other 40% 
it increased only the former. 

Dunlap and Wells^^ gave simultaneously visual and auditory 
stimuli to four reagents in reaction-time experiments, and found 
that when the auditory stimulus was reacted to, the reaction time 
was about 10 sigma longer than to the auditory stimulus alone; 
if the visual stimulus was reacted to, the reaction-time was about 
20 sigma longer than to the auditory alone, but 40 sigma shorter 
than to the visual alone. 

3. Discrimination 

"Volkmann*"* found that by practice of the left arm in dis- 
crimination until an initial ability of 23.6 improved to 11.2, the 
right arm without any practice showed an improvement from 
26.4 to 15.7. Similar results were found for other cases of cross- 
education and for the spread of improvement in discrimination 
of touch at certain spots on the skin to neighboring spots." 

Bennett^ ^ trained 16 children (average age 11 years) of the 

" Epstein : Ueber Modification der Gesichtswahrnemung unter dem Ein- 
flusse von gleichseitigen Toneindriicken. Zeits. f. Biol, 1896, 33 :28. 

" Dunlap and Wells : Some experiments with reactions to visual and audi- 
tory stimili. Psych. Rev., 1910, 17:319. 

" Volkmann : Ueber den Einfluss der Uebung auf das Erkennen raumlichen 
Distanzen. Ber. der Kgl.-Sachs. ges. d. Wiss. (Math. Phys. Col.) 1858, 10:38. 
Quoted by Thorndike: Educational Psych. (First Ed.) P. 86. 

"Bennett: Formal Discipline. Teachers College, 1907, (pp. 59ff)- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 7 

Speyer school in New York City, twice a week from October to 
March on discrimination of shades of blue, using a Milton-Brad- 
ley color-wheel. Judgments were made on whether the inner 
disc or the outer ring was the deeper blue (greater saturation). 
The stimuli were thus presented simultaneously. Tests were 
taken, before and after this training, on discrimination of shades 
formed by mixtures of (i) red+ white, (2) yellow+green, 
(3) orange-]- black, and of (4) pitch. For the latter test a Gilbert 
tone-tester was used, F sharp being taken for the norm. Effi- 
ciency was calculated in degrees of change of the sectors, or 
points of tone-change, corresponding to the range of the judg- 
ment "same." The average efifect of training was a reduction 
of this range: Boys 2.7° to 0.8°; girls 4.5° to 0.7°; or boys 
65%, girls 80%. The range was reduced in the four tests: 





I 


2 


3 


4 


Boys 


79% 


60% 


65% 


28% 


Girls 


84% 


57% 


56% 


23% 



Since the First and Final tests were separated by five months, 
the practice efifect of the first test could not have been considera- 
ble. Clear transfer is thus shown from improvement in discrim- 
ination of shades of blue to shades of other colors, and in a less 
degree to discrimination of pitch. 

4. Assotciation 

Thorndike and Woodworth^^ trained reagents in estimating 
areas, weights, and lengths : 

Six reagents were trained in estimating areas of rectangles 
from 10-100 sq. cm. in size, "until a very marked improvement 
was made." Tests were taken before and after this training on 
estimating areas of : 

a. Same shape and same size 

b. " " but 140-200 sq. cm. in size 

c. " " " 200-300 " " " 

d. Different shape and same size 

e. " " " 100-140 sq. cm. in size 

f. " " " 140-200 " " " 

g. " " " 200-240 " " 
h. " " " 240-over " " 

"Thorndike and Woodworth: The influence of improvement in one 
mental function upon the efficiency of other mental functions. Psych. Rev., 
1901, 8:247ff, 384ff. 



8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Efficiency was calculated in amount of average error, and the 
final results were given in per cent showing the proportion of late 
to early error. In the whole table of 44 final figures 13 show lack 
of improvement. And of the 14 totals of the two tables, only 
one shows lack of improvement. The average results of four 
reagents (from Table IV, p. 384) show that training reduced 
error to 48.4% of the initial amount; that improvement was 
transferred to estimating the other sizes and forms to the fol- 
lowing per cents of their original error: a. 39, b. 67, c. 102, d. 
62, e. 50, f . 78, g. 86, h. yy ; averages for two other reagents, who 
omitted c. and d., were a. 66, b. 61, e. 61, f. 84, g. 84, h. 76. 
Counting the complements of these per cents of error as per cent 
of gain, the gain in the training was 51.6%, the average gain in 
the tests within the field, same form, was 61 % ; different form, 
38%; above the field, same form, 16%; different form, 51%; 
for all the tested abilities it was 29%. The extent to which 
the special practice shows general effect is, therefore, 55%. 

Two reagents were trained on a set of seventeen weights 
ranging from 40-120 grams inclusive, 5-gram intervals, and 
similar except in weight. Tests were taken before and after 
training, on estimating (a) 8 common objects averaging 95.8 
grams, the weights of which fell within the field of 40120 
grams; (b) 12 common objects averaging 736 grams, the weights 
of which fell above the field of 40-120 grams. Efficiency was 
calculated in deviations in grams. W. made in the last test in the 
training series 51% of the error made in the first test, T. 59.3%. 
W. showed in the after-training test on objects within the field 
over 100% of the improvement made in the training series; T. 
32% ; W. on the objects above the field gained 6y% ; T. showed 
no improvement. Averaging the gains of both training and test 
series, 44.8% improvement was made in the former and 27% 
in the latter. As a result of the whole experiment the special 
practice showed general effect to the extent of 60%. 

The failure of transfer of improvement to diminish as the 
material estimated becomes less like the training material should 
be noted, for its bearing on the proposed explanation for trans- 
ference through 'identical elements.' 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 9. 

5. Reaction 

Angell and Moore^'^ carried out a long series of experiments 
with three reagents in reaction-time, in which the responses were 
made with the hand, the foot, or the Hps, to auditory and visual 
stimuh, in both 'sensorial' and 'motor' forms. Most of the 
visual series were not begun until after the auditory series (of 
from 700 to 1500 reactions) had been completed, and they show- 
ed a much shorter time than is usual for reaction to visual 
stimuli ; the authors observed that the form of reaction was the 
same in both groups and that the decrease in time in the latter 
must be referred to the practice-effect of the former. 

Gilbert and Fracker^^ tested three reagents on time of simple 
reaction, and time of reaction with discrimination, to sound 
stimuli, light, electrical, and tactual, stimuli ; then trained two of 
them on reaction with discrimination, and one on simple reaction, 
to sound, for 12 days. Of the 27 records in the re-test with the 
other stimuli, 25 showed transference of improvement to both 
simple reaction and reaction with discrimination. 

Thorndike and Woodworth^^ trained five reagents in reacting 
to words, in reading matter, containing both the letters e and s, ' 
by marking out the words. Before and after the training, tests 
were made in marking out ( i ) words containing, i-t, s-p, c-a, e-r, 
on similar pages; (2) a-n, l-o, e-r, on pages differing from the 
training material in length of line, size of type, and style of 
matter; (3) misspelled words and (4) the letter A from pre- 
pared sheets. Average gain in the training was 38%. In the 
tests the average per cent of gain was for (i) 21, 22, 10, 14; 
for (2) 28, 33, 31; for (3) 16; for (4) 10. The transfer of 
practice-effect was larger for (2) (dissimilar material) than for 
(i) (similar material). Altogether, the special training showed 
general effect to the extent of 44%. 

" Angell and Moore : Reaction time ; a study in attention and habit. Psych. 
Rev., 1896, 3:24s. 

" Gilbert and Fracker : Effect of practice in reaction and discrimination for 
sound upon the time of reaction and discrimination for other forms of 
stimuli. Univ. Iowa Studies in Psych., 1897, i ^62. 

"0/'. cxt. 



10 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Carrie W. Liddle^*^ sought to determine whether practice in 
discrimination and sorting of one set of cards bearing colors 
or geometric signs would assist in discriminating and sorting 
another set with different colors or signs. Each set of 102 cards 
contained six colors, or six designs, was shuffled so that no color 
or device repeated itself, and was sorted into six compartments. 
The first six cards of the pack determined the order of colors in 
the compartments according to which the rest of the pack was 
to be sorted. Nine reagents took part and the experiment con- 
tinued two semesters. There was transference of practice-effect 
from one set of colors to the other set of colors, and to the 
geometric forms; and from one set of geometric forms to the 
otiier and to the colors. Increased powers of discrimination and 
attention were thought to be the causes of transference. 

(a) Interference 

Some contributions to transference of practice effect point out 
the fact that the effect is not always positive. It nevertheless 
indicates functional relationship of processes and is therefore 
important. Most of the material used in these contributions 
consists of discriminative reactions, which justifies general treat- 
ment in this place. 

Jastrow and Cairnes^^ found that when two mental processes, 
as (i) finger-movements involving rhythm and counting, and 
(2) adding or reading, are carried on at the same time, the fol- 
lowing effects are produced: (a) Simple movements are not 
interfered with; (b) maximum beating or beating in groups is 
interfered with: (c) beating in two's and three's (alternately) 
seriously interferes with reading aloud : (d) the maximum rate of 
beating hurries the mental process. 

Bergstrom has reported experiments showing interference 
clearly : 

^'Liddle: Unpublished thesis for the degree of M.L. at the University of 
California. May, 1904. 

^Jastrow and Cairnes: Interference of mental processes. Am. Jr. Psych., 
1891-2, 4:219. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE ii 

First.22 (i) A pack of 80 cards, 10 kinds in each pack, was 
distributed upon 10 piles. Another pack bearing the same ab- 
stract words at the top was distributed immediately after upon 
re-arranged places ; the results of the six reagents showed inter- 
ference in longer time for the second pack. (2) Cards with 
pictures of common objects sketched upon them were sorted as 
before; but with the difference that the time between the packs 
was varied from 3 to 960 seconds. Series were taken by four 
reagents for 20 days. Interference was shown for the following 
intervals (in seconds) between packs: 3, 15, 30, 120, 480; it 
decreased regularly with the increase of the interval; two-thirds 
dropped away in the first minute. Time of sorting decreased 
greatly with daily practice but the amount of the interference did 
not. In the shorter intervals the reagent was acutely conscious 
of it; in the longer, not at all. If the interval between the packs 
is increased to 24 hours, the second pack is sorted in less time; 
practice effect has overcome interference. 

Second.^^ Miinsterberg's "Gedachtnisstudien" (Beihefte, 
Heft 4) suggested the question, "Can a given association func- 
tion automatically while some effect of a previous and different 
association with the sense stimulus remains?" Packs of 80 
cards, as before, were sorted on ten piles; orders of piles were 
changed and cards were changed. The answer to the question 
is affirmative: under certain "simple conditions, interference ef- 
fect of an association bears a constant relation to the practice 
effect and is equivalent to it." 

Bair^^ performed two experiments in which the practice effect 
much outweighed interference: (i) "Six keys of a typewriter 
are labeled with six symbols (letters or figures). Fifty-five of 
these letters or figures, in chance order, are now shown one by 
one, and the subject on seeing one taps the corresponding key. 

** Bergstrom : Experiments upon physiological memory by means of the 
interference of associations. Am. Jr. Psych., 1892-3, 5 1256. 

^ Bergstrom : Relation of the interference to the practice effect of an 
association. Am. Jr. Psych., 1894, 6:433. 

** Bair : The Practice curve ; A study in the formation of habits. Psych. 
Rev. Mon. Supp., 1902, No. 19. 



12 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

The time taken to tap out the series is recorded. Six different 
symbols are then used with a new series composed of them, and 
the subject's time record is taken as before. This is continued 
until twenty different sets of symbols have been used. Although 
the symbols have been changed each time, there is a steady im- 
provement, ranging for the four subjects in the following de- 
crease in time: 62 to 52, 95 to 85, 71.5 to 58, 65 to 56. The 
major part of this gain could not have been due to merely getting 
used to the machine or to the general features of the experiments, 
for the fourth subject was already used to these and still gained 
about nine-tenths as much as the other three.^^ 

"(2) The other experiment consisted in taking daily records, 
for twenty days, by means of a stop-watch, of the time required 

"The relation between interference and practice has also been just re- 
cently shown by Dr. Warner Brown (Habit interference in card-sorting. 
Univ. Calif. Pub. in Psychol., 1914, 1:269-321). Fifty-two playing-cards were 
sorted, according to suit, into a row of four boxes. In the First Series, 26 
reagents worked 13 days, sorting 8 packs per day (except on the 3d, 5th, and 
7th days when 4 packs were sorted), during the first 8 days with the 
"original" order of lebels ( D C H S), during the 9th to the 12th days, in- 
clusive, with a new order each day for the 3d to the 6th packs and the 
original order for the first and last two packs. Interference in passing from 
the original order to one of the new orders ranged from 1% to 23%, averag- 
ing about 12% (op. cit., p. 294). But in spite of the intrusion of practice in 
antagonistic reactions, practice on the original order resulted in considerable 
improvement: The actual amount of improvement from the 8th to the 
13th days was considerably greater than from the 4th to the 8th days. The 
constant interference with practice did not prevent the steady improvement 
of skill with the original order (p. 307). In the Second Series, 18 students 
practiced card-sorting (twice a week) for 8 days, according to the same 
procedure as above except that 24 hours later they took an equal practice 
on the order C S D H. It was ascertained, after the elimination from the 
two series of all but 14 pairs of scores showing equal initial ability, (i) That 
antagonistic tendencies were carried over from one order to the other result- 
ing in loss of speed at the beginning of each day's work, (2) that the inter- 
ference phenomenon was confined to the first few trials of the day's sorting, 
(3) that it did "not affect the increase of skill in performing the action in 
the accustomed manner" (313), and (4) that practice on the second order 
helped in the learning of the first order. From the data of the First Series 
the author observed that "Four trials of any new order suffice to acquire a 
speed that it required six days, or 40 trials, to acquire in the original prac- 
tice (307). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 13 

to repeat the alphabet from memory. Each day's experiment 
was as follows : First, the alphabet was repeated as rapidly as 
possible forward; second, the letter n was interpolated between 
each of the letters; third, the alphabet was repeated as rapidly 
as possible backward; and last, the alphabet was repeated back- 
ward interpolating n between each two of the letters. At the 
end of twenty practices in each order the subject repeated the 
alphabet first forward interpolating instead of n the letter x and 
repeating three times; secondly, interpolating r and repeating 
three times; then lastly, repeating backward and in like manner 
interpolating x and r and repeating three times. There was im- 
provement in the test series, the effect of the twenty days' training 
with the training series being to put the abilities in the test series 
as far ahead as three days of the direct training would have 
done."26 

He concludes, concerning the first experiment, that "continued 
practice in one order increases proportionately the ability to make 
quickly and accurately a new and antagonistic order."^''' And 
that "any bit of special training helps us to find ourselves. It 
gives us a method of orientation which leaves us in our reactions 
not entirely at the mercy of chance even in unfamiliar situations. 
The experience which we get from special training gives us a 
general power to meet any entirely new situation with a more 
favorable response than had we not had this special training.^^ 

Louise E. Ordahl,^^ as a result of her work under Sanford's 
direction at Clark, concludes : "What Bair says in regard to the 
general ability given by special training, e.g., *to a new situation 
we react by a general discriminative reaction and are more likely 
to hit on a favorable response than without this special training,' 
is true of all learning. For no matter what new acquisition is 
undertaken if it is possible to master it, some previous general 

^'Quoted from Thorndike : Educational Psychology (ist Ed.), p. 92. 

" Psych. Rev., 1903, 10 :s8o. 

^ Bair : Contributions to Phil. Psych, and Ed., Columbia University, 1902. 
Vol. IX. 

^'Ordahl: Consciousness in relation to learning. Am. Jr. Psych., 191 1; 
22:158. 



14 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

training has either been developed by the individual or through 
the inherited co-ordinations of his ancestors." 

McMein and Washburn^*^ performed experiments with card- 
sorting to determine "Whether two relatively complex habits in- 
terfered with each other in a less or greater degree than two 
relatively simple habits." The more complex processes showed 
less interference. 

The relation between interference and practice effect then de- 
pends upon the time between practices and the complexity of the 
processes. The work of Liddle and Blair seems to indicate that 
improvement can be made in overcoming interference by frequent 
changes of the associations. This would be a very important 
general effect of practice. 

6. Memory 

Some of the first work to show transference of practice effect 
in memorizing was done by Bergstrom^^ in connection with his 
investigation of interference in mental activity. He found that 
upon memorizing four series of non-sense syllables in suc- 
cession, with but 10 seconds between series, interference was 
progressive; i.e., each successive series took a longer time to 
memorize. Similar progressive interference occurred in learning 
3 series of 30 digits in succession. This result conforms with 
that of Ebbinghaus.^^ To determine whether interference under 
these conditions was caused by recurring materials in re-arrange- 
ment, another experiment was performed in which the first series 
of non-sense syllables were made up of the letters of the first half 
of the alphabet, and the first series of numbers of the first half of 
the digits, while the second series were made up of the remaining 
elements. Since no materials recurred in re-arrangement and the 
time of the second series was greatly reduced, interference did not 
take place. Interference was considered an "after-image" of 

'"McMein and Washburn; Effect of mental type on the interference of 
motor habits. Am. Jr. Psych., 1909, 20:282. 

"Bergstrom: Influence of interference upon mental activity. Am. Jr 
Psych., 1894, 6 -.267 ff. 

*■ Ebbinghaus : Ueber das Gedachtniss, 1885, S. 95- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 15 

central activity, and since it occurs with associations formed from 
impressions from disparate senses, it opposes the dismemberment 
of memory for facts into different sensory types, where by this 
distinction it is meant that the same thing can be learned more 
easily by one sense than by another. The principal fact to note 
here is that the practice effect of the first series on the second 
was marked. 

Bennett^^ reports transference of improvement in an experi- 
ment on memory. Two reagents took part; K. trained 28 con- 
secutive days, learning 16 lines a day of "In Memoriam"; B. 
trained 35 consecutive days, learning two stanzas of "Faerie 
Queene" daily. K. was tested on learning a row of 30 digits each 
day for five days, before and after the training; B. was tested 
on learning a list of 15 names of places each day for five days, 
before and after training. K. gained in tests 58% in the reduc- 
tion of time; B., 22%. 

Perhaps the most important investigation of the general effect 
of special training in memorizing, because of both the length and 
the rigor of the training, is that of Ebert and Meumann.^"* Al- 
though no control experiment was carried along, to determine 
the effect of the tests upon themselves in the repeated 'cross-sec- 
tions,' and the quantitative results, therefore, cannot be accepted 
as conclusive, the amounts of gain shown in the repeated tests 
appear sufficiently great to create a presumption in favor of the 
authors' conclusions which seem more fully warranted by the 
qualitative part of their study. 

This research continued from November, 1902, to August, 

1903. Six reagents were trained on memorizing non-sense syl- 
lables, three taking 64 series, and three 48 series, of 12 syllables 
each. Usually the work of one day's training consisted in learn- 
ing two new series and relearning two series that had been learn- 
ed the preceding day. The number of the days of training for 
three reagents would thus be 32, and for the other three 24. 

^'Bennett: op. cit. (pp. 45 f). 

^ Ebert and Meumann : Ueber einige Grundf ragen der Psychologic der 
Uebungsphanomene in Bereiche des Gedachtnisses. Archiv f. d. ges. Psych, 

1904, 4:1- 



i6 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

' Before the training, after the six reagents had learned 32 
series, after the training, and after a three-month interval of no 
practice, tests were given. There w^ere thus four 'cross-sections' 
of memory capacities taken : One for the purpose of determining 
initial efficiency, two for the purpose of testing the influence upon 
those capacities of the training on the non-sense syllables, and a 
final test given after a long interval without practice, to determine 
the durability of that influence. The tests involved (a) 'imme- 
diate memory' or the capacity of reproducing as much as possi- 
ble of a series of stimuli after a single presentation; and (b) 
'complete learning' or the capacity of reproducing a series per- 
fectly after the fewest possible number of presentations. Reten- 
tion was also tested by relearning after 24 hours the series that 
had been 'completely learned.' The series for testing both 
sorts of memorizing consisted of both sense and non-sense 
material, and were presented auditorially for the tests on 'im- 
mediate memory' and visually, by means of a revolving drum, 
for the tests on 'complete learning.' 

The tests and results of the first three cross-sections follow : 

Table I. Effect of training on 'immediate memory.' 
(a) Number of units correctly reproduced after one presentation. 
' Cross-sections Per cent gain 



f 




s 


' 




A 


I 


2 


3 


2 over I 


3 over 2 


3 over 


Numbers 7 


8.8 


11.2 


29 


26 


59 


Letters 7.2 


9-5 


1 1.3 


36 


19 


58 


Non-sense syllables 5.2 


6.2 


7-3 


20 


19 


42 


*Italian words 5 


5-5 


6.5 


10 


18 


30 


*Lines of poetry 15 


17 


19 


13 


12 


27 


*Lines of prose 17 


19 


22 


12 


16 


29 



* Only two reagents. 

(b) Number of units reproduced of which a third were errors. 



Numbers 10.3 


15.8 


17.7 


56 


12 


71 


Letters 11.2 


14-3 


16 


28 


12 


43 


Non-sense syllables 7.7 


11.2 


12.2 


49 


9 


59 


*Italian words 7.5 


11.5 


12.S 


53 


9 


67 



* Only 2 reagents. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 17 

Table 11. Effect of training, on (a) 'Complete Learning,' and (b) Retention 
for 24 hours. Number of Presentations per unit, — per 
line for poetry and prose. 







Cross- 


sections 




Per 


cent gain 






r 


I 


2 


3 


r 
2 over I 3 


over 2 3 


over 


Non-sense syllables (a) 


2.11 


.83 


48 


61 


43 


n 




(b) 


•49 


•27 


20 


45 


35 


59 


Optical symbols 


(a) 


3.83 


2.23 


90 


42 


60 


11 




(b) 


.68 


.35 


30 


49 


14 


56 


Italian words 


(a) 


•273 


• 175 


108 


36 


38 


60 




(b) 


.056 


.040 


036 


29 


10 


36 


Lines of poetry 


(a) 


■75 


.60 


47 


20 


22 


Z7 




(b) 


.14 


.08 


07 


43 


13 


50 


Lines of prose 


(a) 


145 


.82 


50 


43 


39 


66 




(b) 


•30 


.10 


09 


67 


10 


70 



From the above tables we observe ( i ) that the total improve- 
ment in the untrained 'special memories' compares very favora- 
bly with, indeed sometimes exceeds, the improvement in memory 
for non-sense syllables; (2) that the gain of the 3d over the 2d 
cross-section compares favorably both with the gains of the 2d 
over the ist, and with the improvement made in the second period 
of training; (3) that the first observation above is applicable to 
"retention after 24 hours," but that the second is less so; the 
improvement in retention was not so great for the second period 
of training (35% as against 45%), and segregation of the scores 
shows that the group of reagents who took but 16 series in this 
part of the training is more responsible for the lack of great 
improvement than is the group who took 32, to the extent of 
the ratio 19:38 (%'s), and is more responsible for the lack of 
great improvement in the other tests to the extent of the ratio 
8:11. It may be remarked, however, that this group had training 
equal in extent to that of the other group before the 2d cross- 
section, and yet in the test on the training material it showed less 
improvement in retention to the extent of the ratio 28 153 al- 
though it showed equal average improvement in retention in the 
other tests (48%). And it may also be noted that this group 
made less improvement on Non-sense Syllables in the 2d c-s, and 



i8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

more than the other group in the 3d c-s, while it equalled the other 
in average per cent gain on the other tests of both 2d and 3d 
cross-sections. (4) In connection with the preceding observation 
it may be noted that although great improvement was shown in 
the wider capacity of 'immediate memory' (permitting 33% er- 
rors — see Table Lb), the second part of the training did not 
contribute much toward it. (5) Amount of improvement does 
not seem to depend upon similarity of the test to the training 
material; e.g., Numbers in Table I. and Optical Symbols in 
Table II. were more dissimilar to the training material than any 
of the other non-sense tests, yet improvement in the former ex- 
ceeds and in the latter equals that shown on the training material : 
and the gain shown on lines of Prose, in Table II., which differs 
greatly from the training material in the form of connection be- 
tween the units of the series, is higher than that shown on lines 
of Poetry which in the respect noted is more similar to the train- 
ing material. 

The permanence of the improvement in memorizing, as shown 
by the fourth cross-section,^^ would seem to support the claim 
that it was not effected by the test practice. 

Unless we assume that all the gain on the tests, other than on 
non-sense syllables, is the result of the practice effect of the pre- 
ceding tests, we must refer some of the gain in these tests to the 
training on non-sense syllables ; how much, cannot be safely esti- 
mated until the tests are repeated, without training, under the 
same conditions.^® 

^Five of the reagents were here given tests on non-sense syllables, and 
two of them on verses of Poetry, after an interval without practice. This 
interval was 75, 85, 91, 146, 156, days respectively. There was no decrease 
in efficiency; some of the reagents showed an increase. 

'^ This appears to have been done by Dearborn (Psychol. Bull., 1909, 6:44) 
whose results "indicate that a considerable part of the improvement found 
must be attributed to direct practice in the test series, and not to any 'spread' 
of improvement from the practice series proper." G. E. Mviller (Zeits. f. 
Psychol., 190S, 39:111-125), Wessely (Neue Jahrb. f. Pad., 1905, 8:379-380), 
Sleight (Br. Jr. Psychol., 191 1, 4:39ofif), among others, have also criticised 
the quantitative evidence in the original research. A pupil of Meumann's, 
however, who took the precaution of performing control experiments, pre- 
sents, in a Dissertation published from Ziirich, evidence that special training 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 19 

The introspective evidence, as noted above, seems more con- 
clusive than the quantitative. The training effected ( i ) a change 
in the whole psychical habit of memorizing, which was applica- 
ble to the varied test material: Distaste for the exacting work 
changed to zest ; muscular tensions decreased in intensity and ex- 
tent ; innervation for the work became strong and constant ; atten- 
tion became more economically directed over the parts of the 
presented material; concentration became more constant; etc. 
And it effected (2) a change in the method of memorizing : The 
progress in 'complete learning' became methodical, and learning 
a series which soon after the beginning of the training was carried 
on in the various successive stages by definite and distinct mo- 
tives, as (a) orientating, (b) apperceiving, (c) combining units 
into a rhythm, (d) anticipating syllables, (e) proving memory, 
became more of a continuous process in which the various mo- 
tives were economically combined; the mnenonic aids at first 
grasped at by all reagents were advantageously discarded, etc. 
The experience of the reagents thus attests the fact of the general 
effect of their special practice, and reveals in some manner the 
cause of this general effect. 

Fracker^'^ makes another important contribution proving gen- 
eral effect of training when the materials memorized are of a 
simple nature. A group of four untrained reagents took the tes:s 
with the trained reagents, permitting determination of practice 
effect of the first test upon the second, and the plan and control 
of the experimentation are excellent. 

Eight reagents were given four weeks' training (two or three 
days a week) in memorizing series of 9 sounds made up of four 
intensities. These were produced by an electro-magnetic fork 
and were delivered through a telephone. The four different in- 
tensities were produced by switching into the circuit different 
resistances. Improvement was made by all but one reagent (Fs.). 

in memory is also general training in memory. (Radossawljewitsch: Das 
Fortschreiten des Vergessens mit der Zeit, 1907, S. 182). 

" Fracker : On the transfer of training in memory. Psych. Rev. Mon. Sup., 
1908, No. 38:56-102. 



20 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Before and after the training the eight trained and the four 
untrained reagents took the following memory tests : 

1. Poetry (Two stanzas of "Eve of St. Agnes") 

2. Order of Four Grays (40 groups) 

3. " " Nine Tones (20 groups) 

4. " " Nine Grays (20 groups) 

5. " " Four Pitches (40 groups) 

6. " " Nine Geometrical Figures (S Trials) 

7. " " Nine Numbers (10 series of 9 double numbers) 

8. Extent of arm-movement (10 trials for each of 3 standards) 

No's 2, 3, 4, 5, were given in "double fatigue order" to equal- 
ize fatigue and practice effects upon them. 

The relation of the tests to the training series was as follows : 

No. 2 different in content, same in method. 
No. 3 same in content, different in method. 
All others, different in both content and method. 

No. 2. A group consisted of 4 grays (No's 2, 7, 30, 45, — 
Hering) exposed at the rate of one second, remaining exposed 
one-half a second, with an interval of 4 seconds between the 
groups. In this interval the reagent responded aloud in num- 
bers I to 4, 4 being the darkest gray, reproducing the order of 
the 2d preceding group. 

No. 3. A group consisted of 9 intensities of sound, delivered 
at the rate of one second, each continuing one-half second. In 
a nine-second interval between groups the reagent responded 
aloud in numbers i to 4, 4 being the loudest sound, reproducing 
the order of the preceding series. 

No. 4. Same as No. 2, except that 9 grays were given in 1 
group. The reagent responded aloud in numbers, during a nine- 
second interval between groups, as in No. 3. 

No. 5. Same as No. 2 in method, except as to the response., 
which was made by naming Do, Mi, Sol, D0-2. The stimuli were 
the notes of the major chord struck upon a piano. 

No. 6. The geometric figures were drawn by joining three 
straight lines (two long, one half-length) so that they joined 
only at the ends or in the middle, the long lines always adjoined, 
and formed right angles, none crossing. The nine symbols were 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 21 

exposed simultaneously for 10 seconds. The reagent responded 
by drawing the figures, within a time limit of one minute. 

No. 7. Nine two-place numbers were read aloud at the rate 
of one and one-half seconds. The reagent responded by record- 
ing within the time limit of 15 seconds. 

No. 8, The reagent, with eyes closed, moved his finger with 
free arm movement along a glass rod from a stationary piece 
of tubing to one adjusted by the experimenter; he moved his fin- 
ger out and back twice ; then moved it out to the position he esti- 
mated to be the same (the adjustable tube being removed) ; three 
standards were used. 

The tables show that of the 8 trained reagents six made their 
greatest gains, and the others made large gains, in No. 2, where 
the material was grays, and the method was the same as in the 
training on sound ; the other two made their greatest gains, and 
three others made good gains, in No. 3, in which the content was 
the same as in the training, but the method was different. In 
No. 4, four made large gains. In No. 5, in which the method 
was the same as in No. 2, but in which the material was series 
of pitches, responded to by name, four made large gains. Of the 
tests which differed widest from the training in material and 
method, three made large gains in No. 6 (Geometrical figures) ; 
three made fair gains in No. 7 (Nine numbers), and one in No. 
8 (Movement). In No. i (Poetry) four made fair gains. 

By grouping the tests in the order of similarity to dissimilarity 
*as compared with the training, and averaging the per cent gain^^ 
of the trained and of the untrained reagents, we get : 





Similar 




Dissimilar 


Tests 


234 


5 


6781 


Trained reagents 


36% 22 19 


10 


13% 407 


Untrained reagents 


4 II 10 


-2 


80-12 



Difference 32 11 9 12 54-15 

The average gain in training was 21 %. 

^ The per cents gain are the differences between the scores which were 
expressed in per cent of a perfect score; they are not reckoned upon initial 
efficiency. 



22 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

And if we average the per cent gain for the respective re- 
agents, we may compare the (a) test gains with the (b) training 
gains, and the (a) gains of the trained with the (c) gains of the 
untrained reagents : 

Reagents i 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 

(b) 32 25 -9 41 27 29 17 (9) 
(a) 10 15 6 15 30 15 6 14 (c)s 8 10 13 

The average gain for the trained reagents on the similar tests 
was 22%, on the dissimilar 6% ; for the untrained reagents 6% 
and 3%. Which indicates that gain in the dissimilar tests was 
harder to make; that there was greater transfer of improvement 
in the training to the similar material than to the dissimilar mate- 
rial, and that there was transfer to the dissimilar. The greatest 
transference to the similar material, however, appears to have 
been made on No. 2, in which the method and not the content 
was similar to the training. 

But Fracker's emphasis is rightly placed on introspective an- 
alysis rather than on quantitative results, and he gives us a good 
account of the processes involved in the work of his reagents. 

The training in memorizing the order of four intensities of 
sound developed for nearly all the reagents individual systems 
of visual, visual-auditory, or visual-motor, imagery, involving 
four steps or four positions by which the sequence of presented 
intensities was remembered as imaged movement among these 
positions. These systems of imagery were carried over to the 
tests involving sequence of four graded units (No's 2, 3, 4, 5) 
and replaced, for the trained reagents, the changeable and tenta- 
tive methods employed by all reagents, in the first series of tests. 
Where the tests were more favorable to the application of this 
developed imagery, as with the four grays ( No. 2 ) , it contributed 
most effectively to the increase in the score ; where conditions did 
not permit its application in toto, as with series of nine units be- 
fore response (No's 3, 4) and with a series demanding a different 
form of response (No. 5), there was interference and its efficien- 
cy was decreased. Apparently, the dependence upon the system 
of imagery where interference is great, as in the changed form of 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 23 

response (No. 5), results in lower scores than were made wher»f 
the imagery was seen not to apply and reliance was placed upon 
other and more general effects of practice: more improvement 
was shown with the simultaneously presented geometric symbols 
(No. 6) than was made with the pitches (No. 5). Those other 
effects of training responsible for improvement here, and also in 
the tests on numbers (No. 7) and poetry (No. i) appear from 
the introspection of the reagents to have been (a) systematic 
grouping of material, (b) freer use of imagery in connection with 
this grouping, (c) more economic distribution of attention, (d) 
better concentration of attention, (e) more confidence in power 
to master the situation, etc. Fracker explicitly states three factors 
of improvement in training and of transference to the tests, be- 
sides the development of these systems of imagery: (a) attention 
to the essentials, (b) association responsible for building the sys- 
tems of imagery, (c) automatic use of the imagery where 
applicable. 

It is the chief virtue of this research that it has made clear 
the importance of individual systems of imagery as factors in the 
general effect of special practice in memorizing. So far, repre- 
sentative imagery had not been given, in researches connected 
with the theory of formal discipline, the attention it merits, al- 
though its place in mental life is well known. ^^ 

The ancients, according to Cicero, based their systems of mem- 
ory training upon spatial position or location, and it is not unusual 
todav for university students to fix points in a lecture in mind 
by ranging them along the windows and doors of the room. 

The psychological laboratory has revealed the prominence of 
this kind of imagery in the mental organization of not a few re- 

'^ The writer desires in this connection to allay the misapprehension on 
the part of the author {op. cit. QSflf.) that his results do not accord with 
those published by Coover and Angell (Am. Jr. Psych., 1907, 18:327) with 
respect to the relation between imagery and improvement in practice and 
between imagery and transference of practice-eflfect. Representative imagery 
may be of high value in processes of memory and at the same time be one 
of the chief distractions in processes of discrimination and of reaction 
with discrimination and choice. 



24 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

agents. As an example, Miss Gamble'*^ uses systems of represen- 
tative imagery extensively in memorizing series of stimuli, 
whether they are odors, colors, or non-sense syllables. The in- 
crease in facility in memorizing smells was due to a newly ac- 
quired system of associating members of a series with spots on 
the table-top, which she had previously developed while working 
with colors. She has worked in smell experiments for eleven 
years and learns large series of smells with phenomenal facility, 
yet she has no true smell imagery ; her olfactory impressions are 
replaced primarily by color-images suggested by the materials. 
With respect to the influence of practice on associations, she says 
that representative associations remain but that auxiliary asso- 
ciations (as, black-pink, being held by "red eyes of a mourner"; 
or green-yellow, by "green grass a hunting dog runs over and 
the corn-meal mush he is fed on";) drop away. 

Sleight^ ^ has recently made a substantial contribution to the 
question of transference of improvement in memory. He takes 
his departure from a criticism of the work of Ebert and Meumann, 
Fracker, and Winch. His objections to the first are (i) too few 
reagents for statistical treatment of results, (2) no control seriei- 
to determine the practice-effect of the tests themselves, (3) no evi- 
dence that the tests in the various cross-sections were of equal 
difficulty, (4) inadequacy of the per cent form of statement of 
results, for one reason because per cents are not equivalent when 
they are not reckoned upon equivalent stages of practice. His 
objections to the second are confined to the first of the four just 
quoted. These criticisms will receive some attention in theoretical 
discussion later. 

His first series of experiments were performed with children 
of three girls' schools, numbering 21, 28, 35, respectively (aver- 
age age, 12 yrs. 8 mo.). 

Ten different kinds of tests were given to ascertain the mem- 
orizing power of each child; these constitute the first 'cross-sec- 
tion,' upon the combined results of which the children of each 

^"Gamble: Study in memorizing various materials by the reconstruction 
method. Psych. Rev. Mon. Sup., 1909, No. 43:1. 
*^ Sleight: Memory and Formal training. Br. Jr. Psych., 1911, 4:386. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 25 

school were arranged in order of merit and divided into four 
approximately equal sections of equal merit ; one group was prac- 
ticed on learning poetry by heart, one on tables, one on prose 
substance, and one had no practice but spent the time on arithme- 
tical problems or some other task not involving memory work. 
The practice period lasted six weeks, four days a week, 30 minutes 
a day. A second cross-section of tests was taken in mid-practice, 
a third at the close, and a fourth after six months. 

In practice ( i ) the poetry group repeated line by line after the 
experimenter until the average child could repeat the whole with- 
out help. Meter and Hues varied. ( 2 ) The group on tables learned 
multiplication, denominations, squares, fractions, etc. (3) 
The substance-prose group heard read twice selections from scien- 
tific, geographical, historical, narrative material, and reproduced 
the substance of the narratives. 

The ten tests were intended to appear to develop out of ordin- 
ary school work and were representative of many different pro- 
cesses regularly involved in memory work; they included verbal 
and logical associations, in couplets and continuous, of letters 
syllables, and names; spatial associations with one presentation 
and with several. 

Averages were tabulated ; and the differences between the aver- 
ages of cross-sections one and two, two and three, and one and 
three, for each group of children for each test, were divided by 
the average of the test standard deviations of the three respective 
schools. A table of significant values was formed by subtracting 
the difference-score of the unpracticed group from the difference: 
scores of the three practiced groups, in each test for the three 
test-comparisons. Where these values (the difference between 
the difference-scores of the practiced and unpracticed children) 
were over three times as large as the probable errors, they were 
accepted as significant. Since we are limited to a consideration 
of the 'significant' values, of which there are a few, it is interest- 
ing to note that ( i ) the group trained on poetry showed transfer 
effect to non-sense syllables and the map test having lost in the 
test on poetry by an insignificant amount. (2) The group 



26 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

trained on tables showed transference to points (spatial memory) 
and to non-sense syllables, having lost on dates by an insignificant 
amount. (3) The group practiced on prose-substance showed 
transference to prose-substance and to names. (4) Of the three 
trained groups only one shows transference to the test most 
similar in material (Prose-substance) to their training. (5) If 
the indications of transference are limited to those values which 
"present really strong evidence" (five times their probable 
error), but three cases remain: Prose-substance to prose-sub- 
sfance, poetry to non-sense syllables, and tables to non-sense 
syllables, in the order named, the last being the greatest. (6) 
The only negative transference occurred from tables to dates, 
in which arbitrary 'paired' associations were common, but in 
the latter the sequence of the pairs was disturbed. 

The following causes of transference were conjectured : ( i ) 
From poetry to non-sense syllables, the common element of 
rhythm; (2) from tables to non-sense syllables, rhythm and 
arbitrary associations; from tables to points (spatial memory), 
visual imagery; (3) from prose-substance to prose-substance, 
identical material. 

Since the results of this experimental series with children 
were of an unexpected nature and their interpretation had to 
rest wholly upon statistical analysis, another series was carried 
out in order that they might be confirmed or contradicted by 
the new results and introspective analysis. 

The second series of experiments were conducted upon two 
classes of young women (average age. 18-19 years), first-year 
students, in the Training College (London). 

The method and tests were approximately the same as in the 
first series, except that but six tests constituted a cross-section. 
The training of three groups of poetry, tables, and prose-sub- 
stance respectively, continued twelve consecutive days (a Sunday 
excepted), 30 minutes daily, and differed from the training of the 
children in that poetry and tables were learned from manuscript 
instead of from oral repetition. The statistical treatment of the 
results yields six 'significant' values, and two of these are nega- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 27 

tive : ( I ) The group practiced on poetry showed transference to 
nonsense syllables and to poetry ; (2) the group practiced on tables 
showed transference to dates; (3) the group practiced on prose- 
substance showed transference to prose-substance, and negative 
transference (interference) to non-sense syllables and consonants. 

Causes for transference, based largely upon introspective an- 
alysis, were presumed to be : ( i ) From poetry to poetry, identical 
material and rhythm; from poetry to non-sense syllables, 
rhythm; (2) from tables to dates, visualization ; (3) from prose- 
substance, to prose-substance, identical material; negative trans- 
ference to non-sense syllables and to consonants, repugnance 
for mechanical learning after training on easier logical material. 

This second series seems to be quite independent of the first, 
the significant values of the respective tables of general results 
agreeing in but one case. The introspections of the adults throw 
no light upon the results from the children, and fail, in their 
naivete, to furnish satisfactory explanations for their own re- 
sults; they are not to be considered comparable to the introspec- 
tions of the reagents of Ebert and Meumann, and of Fracker. 
The results of both series must stand on statistical analysis alone. 

In his analysis of results, Sleight finds Thorndike's early law 
of 'Identical elements' too simple. Cases of transference shown 
in the above paragraphs do not follow it: (a) The group prac- 
ticed on tables did not show improvement, but loss, in their 3d 
test on dates ; due to the fact that in the tests they were told the 
number of repetitions that would be given, whereas in the training 
they were not, which resulted in a change in the direction of 
the attention; and (b) the group trained in poetry lost in their 
third test on poetry, probably for the same reason. Trans- 
ference to the tests more remotely related to the training material 
was occasionally large; the greatest transference being to tests 
on non-sense syllables from training on poetry, and on tables. 
"The relation which produced transference is not necessarily (a) 
an external relation perceivable by an observer, nor (b) a 
relation perceivable by the learner; but (c) a common factor, of 
which the individual mind makes use, consciously or uncon- 



28 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

sciously. The individual's awareness of the usable common 
element may produce an earlier and greater effect." The com- 
mon element "must be separable from the complexes" in which 
it occurs. This disintegration resists transference. "The fac- 
tors which make for transference are similarities of a funda- 
mental nature, such as specific forms of attention, imagery, 
rhythm; in short, similarities of procedure;"^- changes in these 
affect transference more than changes in material. 

The general conclusion to which the author is led is that 
"Specific memory training is specific in its effects."^^ 

It appears to the writer that there are apparent reasons which 
mitigate this conclusion: (i) The unpracticed group was not 
unpracticed, since these tests involved processes largely exercised 
in the ordinary work of school. This influence tends to erase 
the difference between the practiced and the unpracticed groups. 
(2) There is sufficient indication by significant positive and 
negative values, of relationship of processes to count against 
merely specific effect of practice. (3) The assumption that 
"the mental processes have probably been independent" when 
the influence of the training is not revealed by "significant" dif- 
ference-scores, is opposed to the general introspective evidence 
of other investigators. (4) The criticism of irregularity of 
results, applied to Winch by the experimenter, seems applicable 
here, since, as was noticed above, the two tables agree in but one 
entry. 

Miss Gamble ^^ in the course of memory investigation with 
odors, colors, and non-sense syllables, found a great increase in 
facility in memorizing smells after practice in memorizing colors 
with which she developed a spatial system of representative 
imagery. The new system was carried over. And "The results 
of G. seemed to show that practice gained in the earlier ex- 
periments with smells and colors was transfered to the learning 
of non-sense syllables." 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 29 

Rall^^ tested two groups of students, upon each of three 
days, in memorizing poetry (Evangehne) and in memorizing 
non-sense syllables. One group (44) trained on memorizing 
for four weeks, 20 minutes a day, individuals choosing various 
material, such as poetry, prose in English and in foreign lan- 
guages, irregular verbs and vocabularies in foreign languages. 
Improvement in training was measured by comparing the last 
three with the first three days. The second group of 28 took no 
training. 

Results showed wide variations: Of the 44 trained reagents^ 
4 lost in the training and one lost in the Evangehne tests ; 6 out 
of 34 lost on the non-sense syllables. Of the untrained group, 
4 out of 28 lost on Evangeline, 3 out of 16 lost on non- 
sense syllables. In the training 22 improved more, 20 less, than 
in the Evangeline test, and 2 improved the same amount; 23 out 
of 34 improved more (or lost less) and 11 improved less in the 
training than on the non-sense syllables. The following table 
gives the average improvement in per cent : 

No. Training Evangeline Non-sense 

Syllables 
Trained 25 32-5 26.9 24.5 

Untrained 20 17-8 12.0 

Difference 9-1 12.5 

In this experiment, then, 25 students gained in training 

32.5%, of which 28% was transferred to the poetry test, and 

38% to the test on non-sense syllables. 

A second investigation was made which agreed with the first in 

showing the general effect of special practice, but the amount 

of the transference was smaller. 

Radossawljewitsch^^ in conducting experimentation directed 

by Meumann found that special practice in memorizing improves 

memory in general. 

^Rall: Some experimental evidence on the transfer of training in mem- 
ory. Psych. Bull., 1912, 9:88. 

"' Radossawljewitsch : Das Behalten und Vergessen bei Kindern und Er- 
wachsenen nach experimentellen Untersuchungen. Pad. Mon. Von Meumann. 
1907. 



30 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

Miss Talbot ^'^ in training her visual memory, not in power 
but in frequency of use, found general effect in its making 
memory more sure. 

7, Voluntary Control 

Book ^^ found, in his investigation of learning typewriting, 
that in learning to 'short-circuit' to a higher order of habits, 
besides habits of manipulation, there were involved 'habits of 
control.' These with other mental habits "when developed in the 
sight method of learning, were carried over to the touch method 
of learning and were used to good effect." 

Judd and Cowling ^^ report that improvement in drawing an 
imaged form with the eyes open was transferred to efficiency in 
drawing with the eyes closed, 

Wallin ^^ trained two observers in nonocular control of re- 
versions in a number of reversible perspective outlines, such as 
a book or a pyramid. "Practice consisted in the attempt to 
uniformly envisage the infrequent or non-predominant perspec- 
tive." Improvement in 9246 trials, expressed in per cent of suc- 
cessful control, amounted to an average of 42% between the 
averages of the first and last 20 days (40% and 82%). Tests 
showed that the improvement was shared by the unpracticed eye. 
"The effects of practice are central; the training of the one eye 
established certain cortical tendencies and mental attitudes. The 
unused retina therefore tended to respond in harmony with the 
central disposition." Also, earlier in the experiment, reversions 
occurred about two and one-half times faster in direct vision than 
in peripheral vision; after practice, reversion occasionally occur- 
red most readily when the figure was in peripheral vision ; there 
was "transference of fixation motives attaching to the fovea to 
the peripheral retina. . . . The foveal tendency was transmuted 
into a 'generalized retinal habit.' " 

" Talbott : Attempt to train the visual memory. Am. Jr. Psych., 1897, 8 :4I4. 

*' Book : Psychology of Skill with special reference to its acquisition in 
Typewriting. Univ. Mont. Bull., 1908, 53:75. 

*'Judd and Cowling: Studies in perceptual development. Psych. Rev. 
Mon., 1907, No. 34:349. 

*" Wallin: Doctrine of formal discipline: Two neglected instances of 
transfer of training. Jr. Ed. Psych., 1910, 1:168. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 31 

8. Summary 

The following summary gives briefly the results of the psycho- 
logical investigations, coming before the notice of the writer, 
and reviewed in the preceding pages, which have a direct or in- 
direct bearing upon the question of functional relationship be- 
tween various mental processes : 

(i) Improvement in habituation to distraction is general 
(Vogt) ; (2) sensitivity of one sense is increased when impres- 
sions from another are simultaneously received (Uibantschitsch, 
Epstein) ; (3) reaction-time to one of two simultaneous stimuli 
is different from the time to either alone, being shorter to a visual 
stimulus when a sound stimulus is also given than to a visual 
stimulus alone, and longer to a sound stimulus when both are 
given than to a sound stimulus alone (Dunlap and Wells) ; (4) 
increase in sensible discrimination of two points is shared by 
surrounding areas (Volkmann) ; (5) improvement in discrim- 
ination of shades of blue (for school children) was transferred 
to facility in discrimination of shades of other colors, and of 
pitch (Bennett) ; (6) improvement in estimating areas, weights, 
and lengths, was transferred to capacity to estimate areas, 
weights, and lengths, different from those used in the training 
(Thorndike and Woodworth) ; (7) time of simple reaction, and 
time of reaction with discrimination, to light, electrical, and 
tactual, stimuli, were reduced through training on simple reaction 
or reaction with discrimination, to sound stimuli (Gilbert and 
Fracker) ; (8) reaction time to visual stimuli was lowered by pre- 
vious practice in reaction to sound stimuli (Angell and Moore) ; 
(9) improvement in marking out words containing each of two 
given letters, on pages similar to and different from those used 
in training, and in marking out capital A's from a sheet contain- 
ing 500 capitals, resulted from training in marked out words 
containing the letters e and ^ (Thorndike and Woodworth) ; (10) 
there was transfer of practice-effect in sorting cards, from one 
set of colors to another set of colors, and to geometric forms, 
and from one set of geometric forms to another, and to the 
colors (Liddle) ; (11) functional relationship and interdepend- 
ence of mental processes are shown by the phenomena of inter- 



32 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

ference: (a) simultaneous processes may interfere with each 
other or augment one of them (Jastrow and Cairnes) ; (b) sort- 
ing a pack of cards in re-arranged compartments immediately 
after sorting another, takes longer time, and in learning rows 
of non-sense syllables successively, the time becomes progressively 
longer if they possess recurring elements (Bergstrom) ; (c) fre- 
quent changes in typewriter-reaction, however, result in capacity 
to make new and antagonistic series of reaction in less time, and 
practice in repeating the letters of the alphabet with the interpola- 
tion of a given letter between each two, increases capacity to repeat 
the same series with the interpolation of a different letter (Bair) ; 
(d) and there is less interference between complex than between 
simple processes (McMein and Washburn); (12) training in 
memorizing poetry improved memory for digits and for names 
of places (Bennett); (13) memorizing non-sense syllables im- 
proved memory for letters, numbers, words, meaningless sylla- 
bles, Italian words, verses of poetry, lines of philosophic prose, 
and optical symbols (Ebert and Meumann) ; (14) memorizing 
series of sounds improved memory for series of grays, tones, 
pitches, a square of geometrical figures, and verses of poetry 
(Fracker) ; (15) training of memory (for children and students) 
upon matter similar to schoolwork, resulted in a few significant 
gains in memory for material similar to, and different from, 
that used in the training, and deteriorated memory for some 
similar material (Sleight) ; (16) memorizing colors gave greater 
facility in memorizing odors, and practice gained in memorizing 
odors and colors was transferred to memorizing non-sense sylla- 
bles (Gamble) ; (17) memorizing poetry or prose in English or in 
a foreign language, or irregular verbs or vocabularies, improved 
memory for poetry and- for non-sense syllables (Rail); (18) 
improvement in voluntary control was carried over from sight 
to touch typewriting (Book), from drawing with the eyes open 
to drawing with the eyes closed (Judd and Cowling), from use 
in connection with one eye to use with the other, and from the 
foveal to the peripheral vision (Wallin). 

An examination of the data reveals the fact that special prac- 
tice is not wholly general in its effects ; is often not largely gen- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 33 

eral, but probably is always somewhat general. Under the 
conditions of the experiments it usually ranges in amount from a 
fourth to three-fourths of the gain shown in the training.^ ^ 

Of greater importance than the fact of the general effect of 
'specific training' however, is the theory that will account for 
all the facts that have come to notice through the course of inves- 
tigation and that point to the relationship of all mental processes, 
but to a relationship that is by no means a simple one. Progress 
toward such a theory is made by the discussions of investigators, 
quoted above, who have subjected their numerical and introspec- 
tive results to a more or less thorough analysis. But since there is, 
on the surface at least, some conflicting evidence, further work 
is necessary to unravel the tangled skein of positive and negative 
relationships, and to account for some apparently anomalous re- 
sults^^ which occasionally occur. 

"It is interesting and perhaps significant that the distinction between gen- 
eral and special effects of practice is so generally recognized by the Danes 
that their language provides separate terms for them (Faerdighed, general; 
Udenadlaeren, special), vid. Meumann : Beitrage zur Psychologie des Zeit- 
sinns. Phil. Stud., 1893, 8:435- 

"Of which further notice is taken on pp. 64ff'. 



PART II 
EXPERIMENTAL 



I. PRINCIPALLY QUANTITATIVE 



The following four experiments (performed 1903-5) took 
their departure from the work of Thorndike and Woodworth.^ 
The amount of transference was still in question, and the theory 
was still that of "identical elements" of a relatively simple nature^ 
largely motor. Although the principal contribution is quantita- 
tive, the analysis of processes is not neglected — all experiments 
were accompanied by introspections. 

1. Experiments on the More Complex Processes 



In order that we could start on an even footing with the inves- 
tigation referred to, it was necessary to repeat some of the experi- 
ments ; the following two were chosen : a. Marking out words 
containing two given letters, and b. Estimating weights. 

a. Marking Out Words 
Two reagents were trained for 1 1 days in marking out words 
containing e and .$■ in selected columns of the "Outlook" Maga- 
zine. Each reagent looked over 12,000 words in each day's 
practice. 

Tests were taken before and after training, in marking out 
(i) Words in "Outlook" columns containing e-s, i-t, s-p, c-a, 
e-r. 

(2) Words on manuscript pages containing a-n, l-o, e-r. 

(3) Common nouns in "Outlook" columns. 

(4) Words in "Outlook" columns containing e-s. 

The manuscript pages were prepared with a script 'type-wheel' 

* op. cit. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 35 

on a Blickensderfer typewriter and were typed in purple 
ink. They differed from the printed columns in (a) length of 
line; (b) color, (c) size, (d) form of letters; (e) letter-spacing; 
(f) line spacing. This provision was made in order that we 
might determine if marking out words consisted simply of re- 
actions to visual symbols. If so, then training the e-s function on 
printed matter would show much less effect upon the functions 
employed on the manuscript pages than on the printed columns. 
And if improvement in the trained function consisted to an ap- 
preciable degree in eye-movements or other habituation to the 
printed material, there would also be less improvement carried 
over to the functions employed on the manuscript pages. 

The results in time and accuracy are given in Table I (Appen- 
dix A, p. 259) and also in per cents in Table II (p. 260). From 
Table I are drawn the two curves on Plates I and II (p. 261) 
which show in absolute amounts the acquired efficiency (in 
speed) in the e-s function, and the amount efficiency in the other 
functions was increased thereby, for the two reagents. 

From Table II are drawn the curves on Plates III and IV 
(p. 261) which show the per cent of acquired efficiency in the 
trained e-s function and the per cent of improvement made in 
the tested abihties of other functions. 

Plate VII (p. 262) shows the course of efficiency with e-s 
words during training. 

Calculating gain by finding the complement of the per cent of 
time, the two reagents gained in the training series 57% and 
31%, in the test series on "Outlook" columns 50% and 20%, 
on the manuscript pages 30% and 30% ; on nouns 14% and 
6%, and on all 42% and 24%. The special practice shows gen- 
eral effect, therefore, to the extent of 74% and yy%. That the 
improvement in the final tests is not due to the practice-effect 
of the first tests may be learned from Table I, in which are 
shown the results on e-s words with which the first test began 
and ended; For Gs. this effect was 12% , for Cr., -3%. 

The accuracy is quite uniform for the tests, although in the 
training considerable improvement was made. (Table II, Plates 
V and VI, pp. 260, 262.) 



36 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Our results in comparison with those of Thorndike and Wood- 
worth are given in the following table. They show about the 
same improvement in training, but more general practice-effect. 
75% instead of 49%. 









Table Comparing Data 












Per cent Improvement 




















Extent 






In 


In Tests 






of general 


Rea 


igents 


Training On Similar 


On 


Dissimilar 




Practice-ef- 








Data 




Data 


Avg. 


fect in % 


Thorndike 


Ber. 


19 


12.S 




4 


10 


53 


and Wood- 


Br. 


51 


21 




35 


19 


2,7 


worth's 


Be. 


37.5 


16.5 




30.3 


21 


57 


Reagents 


Wh. 


44 


5 




25 


10 


23 




EMT, 


. 36 


24 




22> 


25 


69 


Our 


Gs. 


57 


50 




30 


42 


74 


Reagents 


Cr. 


31 


20 




30 


24 


77 



(The per cents are reckoned on the time of the first tests; in 
last column, on the amount of improvement in the training.) 

The table shows more improvement in tests on the dissimilar 
data than on the similar data, by 4 reagents in Thorndike and 
Woodworth's experiment, and by one in ours, 

(i) Conclusion 

Our results seem to indicate that habituation to the training 
data was not a great factor in transference of the practice-effect. 
Some slight improvement may have been due to habituation of 
eye-movement and eye-adjustment to the word-hunting process, 
to facility in pen-manipulation and to the dropping away of 
gross motor accompaniments of mental effort.^ A little may have 
been due to learning a method of looking for words ; as, keeping 
more prominent in mind an image of the least frequent letter 
and using it as a cue. But the transferred improvement seemed 
principally due to reducing the recognition of a word as contain- 
ing given letters to its essential process. Introspections note the 
ease and automatism of the process in the after-training tests: 

'^ Lindley (Am. Jr. Psych., 7:49ifif) finds a considerable list and points out 
that some of them are detrimental. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 37 

Cr. remarked, after test on c-a, "seemed almost as easy as e-s, 
though the words as recognized were not of that familiar cast 
which some e-s words had acquired." Gs. remarked, after test 
on e-r, "Seemed to me as if I were marking almost as mechani- 
cally as I had done the e-s." Gs. remarked, after test on a-n 
words in manuscript, "marked with great facility of recognition 
and very mechanically." The process of recognizing words as 
containing given letters had been relieved of the unnecessary and 
retarding accompaniments {kinaesthetic , motor, and acoustic 
images) noticed in the introspections of the first tests and in the 
early training. 

These retarding accompaniments consisted in (a) repeating 
over and over again, in inner speech, the names of one or both of 
the letters sought, or their sounds^; and in (b) repeating the 
separate words, or actually reading the text, in order to determine 
whether the words contained the sounds which were held in mind 
as auditory images. Even when the method was adopted to 
recognize by visual images, these were strongly supported by 
kinaesthetic-auditory imagery; which indicated that the most 
difficult feature of the exercise lay in recognizing words as con- 
taining the critical letters. 

Training reduced this process to an almost automatic visual- 
motor act, and greatly reduced the time of a given performance. 
There was no kinaesthetic or auditory tendency in the process, in 
the final tests, except where the process was felt to be specially 
difficult (Gs. could scarcely distinguish the a's from the o's in 
the manuscript, and consequently had a tendency to pronounce the 
sound of a at times; Cr. had some difficulty in recognizing i-t 
in the printed columns). This chief factor of improvement in 
the training is identical with the factor of improvement in the 
tests. 

The processes for both reagents, in the different experiments 
in the first test, were various: (i) reading, (2) kinaesthetic- 
auditory cue of letter-names, (3) of letter-sounds, (4) visual 

' Secor (Am. Jr. Psych., 11:236) found auditory and articulatory factors 
to be aids, especially with difficult material, but not necessary elements in 
visual reading. 



38 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

image cue of letter forms, (5) imagery of the one letter only 
as the cue, (6) lines, or words as units for search, (7) mechani- 
cally searching for projections of letters, etc., sometimes varying 
within the single experiment, but usually playing the dominant 
role throughout an experiment. 

In the final tests the process was almost uniform, for each 
reagent, throughout the different experiments. That this change 
was not merely a change in method, is indicated by the fact that 
it took five days of training (12,000 words per day) to get rid of 
the retarding accompaniments of the recognition process. (See 
practice curve in Plate VII, p. 262.) 

Some special factors were noticed in the training which would 
not contribute to general effect: certain common words often 
recurring were reacted to by the word-marking impulse without 
engaging the word-inspecting process ; and the familiarity of the 
images of the capital forms of the letters rendered capitalized 
words easily recognizable. 

In the first test Gs., in marking out s-p words, took p for the 
cue and ran his eye along under the line for the projecting stem; 
and l-o words in the manuscript, above the line for the loop of 
the /. In the final tests, although p and / were the visual cues, 
respectively, the words were searched for the complete letters. 
(This accounts for the smaller gain on s-p and l-o words as shown 
by the tables and charts, in the Appendix A, pp. 259!?.) Cr. 
used the same trick with s-p words in the first test, but not in the 
final, which yielded him also a very small score — about half of 
the score for the e-r words. 

The observation that marking out words containing different 
pairs of letters engages essentially different processes cannot be 
taken as a criticism of the claim that the main factor of improve- 
ment is also a factor of transference. Marking e-s words is not a 
simple but a various process, even with a single reagent. It does 
not only change as a result of training, but at any one sitting it 
varies with words of different length and of different distribution 
of the critical letters. These variations may be so regular as to 
show in a large amount of marking (by a given reagent), various 
constant errors. E.g., Gs., in his training on c-s words, omit- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 39 

ted a much greater proportion of 6-letter words than any others, 
and of words in which e and ^ were separated by three or four 
letters than any others, of words also containing x than of those 
also containing ch, €, g, or z. Cr., in his training on e-s words, 
omitted a much greater proportion of 4-letter words than any 
others ; of words in which e and ^ were separated by four letters 
than any others ; of words also containing z than also containing 
ch, €, g, or x. Gs. recognized e-s words principally through kin- 
aesthetic or sound image of s, x was his great distraction, and 
half the words he marked in error contained € interpreted as g. 
Cr, recognized e-s words principally through their visual images, 
using ^ as a cue, and z was his great distraction. 

Although the process varies not only with various words and 
with various reagents, general effect of the special practice is 
shown quantitatively by the tables and qualitatively by the intro- 
spections, to be the rule for both similar and dissimilar data. 
And we take the principal factor of improvement to be essentially 
general in nature. 

b. Estimating Weights 

Two reagents were trained for 14 days on a set of 17 Chicago 
suggestion blocks ranging from 40-120 grams, all similar except 
in weight. Each reagent took 100 series, making 1700 judg- 
ments. (See Tables V and VI for data of the first and last series, 
pp. 263-4.) 

Tests were taken before and after training on estimating (a) 
Ten common objects, averaging 67.5 grams in weight, and all 
falling within the 40-120 gram field; and (b) Ten common ob- 
jects, averaging 552.7 grams, and all falling above the 40-120 
gram field. (Detailed results are given in Tables VII to X, pp. 
264ff ; averages, in Tables III and IV, pp. 260, 263.) 

All weights were lifted from a cushioned surface through a 
distance (about six inches) limited by a taught cord, during a 
given time (one-half second) controlled by a metronome, and 
were replaced in the same time. 

Efficiency was measured in per cent — the ratio of the amount 
of deviations in the final to the first tests. The following table 
gives the averages for each reagent : 



40 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Reagents Training Test Test 

Series Within Field Above Field 

40-120 g. 40-120 g. 

Gs 74 71-6 56.7 

Cr 80 70.8 244 

If per cent of improvement is found by taking the comple- 
ments of the per cent of error, we get the following comparison 
of averages with the results of Thorndike and Woodworth : 

Reagents Training Test Test 

Series Within Field Above Field 
40-120 g. 
Thorndike 
& Wood- 
worth's Re- W 49 62 2>Z-2 

agents T 40.7 I3 -i-2 

Our Gs 26 28.4 43.3 

Reagents Cr 20 29.2 -244 

From the tables it is noticeable that our results are more 
uniform for the two reagents than are those of Thorndike and 
Woodworth's. In each case one reagent shows no improvement 
in the tests on objects above the field, Cr. making 244% more 
deviation in his final than in his first test. With this exception our 
reagents showed in the test series more improvement in every 
case than was made in the training, and thus show more general 
practice-effect than was shown in the original experiment. 

Cr.'s loss of 244% in the test on objects above the field is 
easily explained by his introspection that his estimates "were 
mere calculations upon the old reproduced kinaesthetic image of 
the 1000-gram scale weight" which was accidentally handled 
just before the first test was taken, and by the fact that his devi- 
ations in the first test were remarkably small, totaling only 15% 
of the total weight lifted; (his deviation on objects inside the 
field in the first test was 26.1% of the total weight lifted; the 
corresponding figures for Gs. were, inside the field 29.7%, out- 
side the field 52.8%). (Besides the tables referred to, see also 
Plates VIII to XII, pp. 266fTf for curves.) 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 41 

(i) Conclusion 

The process during the training in Cr.'s case was a building 
up of a definite idea of the 40-120 gram field, and of acquiring 
facility in estimating the relative position of any weight within 
that field ; in the case of Gs., a deepening of the impressions of the 
40-gram and 120-gram blocks, which were used as bases of judg- 
ment. No hard and fast associations between the "heft" of a 
weight and the idea or expression of its weight in grams could 
be detected. 

No definite associations were built up for probably two reasons : 
(i) Each series consisted of 17 blocks, which number was proba- 
bly too great to permit identity^; and (2) the "heft" member of 
the association is exceedingly variable, for besides the influence 
of the preceding weight, of the preceding estimate, and of the 
preceding error, it was affected by (i) the height at which the 
weight is grasped with the fingers, for if it is grasped at the top 
the block will "swing" and if it is grasped at the bottom it will 
"topple," in either case being "active" in comparison to the 
equilibrium of the grasp at the center of gravity, it is likely to 
be over-estimated; (2) the tightness with which it is grasped, 
for a loose grasp (a) permits a "pull" on the skin of the finger 
and thumb, tending to cause over-estimation, and (b) does not 
permit "coldness" of the weight to be so well sensed, tending to 
cause under-estimation ; (3) whether or not the reagent has been 
holding his pen tightly in writing introspections; (4) whether 
the hand is cold or warm, upon which depends the seeming tem- 
perature of the block, a cold block appearing heavier than a 
temperate one; (5) whether the weight is lifted with a jerk, 
which increases its "heft"; (6) whether it is stopped with a jerk 
before setting it down, which also increases its "heft"; (7) 
whether reagent is in "good tone," else all weights seem heavier; 
(8) and whether one's attention is distracted by counting metro- 
nome beats by which to gauge the movement. 

This process of estimating weights is therefore a very complex 
one, and for that reason not best fitted to throw light upon our 

* That recognition of stimuli diminishes with increase of members in the 
series, was shown by Lehmann (Ueber Wiedererkennen. Phil. Stud., 5:138). 



42 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

problem, too many irrelevant factors are possible in both training 
and tests, to leave our results unambiguous. Witness the fact 
that more improvement was made in the test than in the training 
series. 

Both of the activities engaged in these two repeated experi- 
ments were rather complex, and both included motor elements 
that come in for their share of the general effect of special prac- 
tice. These experiments had been devised to learn the relation- 
ship of activities with reference to the product of their application 
rather than to their kind, — they were word-marking and weight- 
estimating activities among which we have found general practice 
effect, and have determined the principal factors to be general in 
nature. 

An ideal experiment for determining functional relationship of 
mental activities, it would seem, should be devised with reference 
to some well-known and simpler kind of mental activity, with 
conditions such that identical motor elements do not share re- 
sponsibility with mental factors for general effect of practice. 

2. Experiments on the More Simple Processes 



The following two experiments^ were devised to meet the re- 
quirements just mentioned. They employ the same kind activity 
upon dissimilar stimuli and engage different motor elements. Any 
transference here of acquired efficiency from a trained to an un- 
trained mental activity must be explained upon psychical grounds 
alone. 

The first experiment was devised to determine the effect of 
practice upon efficiency in an unpracticed activity; the second, 
to determine the effect of practice upon facility of improvement 
in another practiced activity. 

a. Sensible Discrimination. 

Four reagents were trained in Sensible Discrimination of the 
intensities of sound for 17 days during an interval of 57 days. 
Each reagent took 40 judgments per day's training. 

" A brief report of these was made by Coover and Angell in the Am. Jr. 
Psych., 1907, 18:327, under the title of "General Practice Effect of Special 
Exercise." 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 43 

Before and after training they were tested in sensible dis- 
crimination of intensities of brightness, each test consisting of 
3 days' tests of 35 judgments each. 

In the training on sound the stimuli were given with a 
Wundtian sound-pendulum.^ The method was that of constant 
changes, Right and Wrong Cases, procedure without knowledge. 
The variable succeeded the norm in 4 seconds. Some D = o, 
many D J S and the larger D > S. The number of V > N = 
V<N, and there were about ten values for D in each series. 
Judgments were made in four categories: >, <, |||, and? 
(greater, less, like, and undecided). In a couple of series each 
day introspections were noted down by the reagent after each 
judgment; in the remaining series noting introspections was 
reserved until after each series. Reagents sat in marked posi- 
tions with backs to the apparatus. This training consisted of 
very careful work, the data being designed for use in another 
investigation also. 

Efficiencies at the beginning and the end of the training were 
calculated in per cents of Right cases in the. first ten and last 
ten judgments made upon six values of D. Judgments on 
D^o were not included, and 'like' judgments on other values 
for D were counted an 'undecided. '''^ 

Table XIV (p. 270) gives the number of R, W, and U judg- 
ments, per cent of R judgments made on each variable, and the 
per cent of R and U judgments made in each series, at the 
beginning, and Table XV, at the end of the training on sound. 

In the tests on brightness a Marbe color-mixer^ was used to 
present the stimuli. Artificial light was used, and the apparatus, 
including the disc when not exposed, was securely screened in 
black. Apparatus was also mounted on noiseless bearings. 
Values for D were chosen after a preliminary series so that there 
would be some D>S=V>N, and some D>S=V<N; some 
D ^ S and some D=o. The variables succeeded the norms in 

'111. in double form in Wundt: Grungziige d. Physiol. Psych. (5th Auf.), 

111:503. 

' Cf ., F. Angell: Discrimination of shades of gray, etc. Phil. Stud. 19:20. 
* Illustrated in Wundt: Grundziige d. Physiol. Psych, (sth Auf.), 1:524. 



44 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

4 seconds and the disc was exhibited 2 seconds. As in the 
training in sound, a signal was given two seconds before the 
norm was given. The method was that of Right and Wrong 
cases, and the procedure was without knowledge. Judgments 
were given here also in the four categories. Introspections 
were noted by the reagents after each series of 7 judgments. 
Each day's experimentation was preceded by a short preliminary 
series, the judgments of which were not recorded. The order 
of variables which was used in the before-training test was 
repeated in the after-training test, and was believed by the 
reagents to be by chance. 

The initial efficiency of the reagents in brightness-discrimina- 
tion was calculated in per cent of R judgments. Here also the 
judgments on D=o were not included, and the 'like' judgments 
on the other values of D were counted as 'undecided.' 

Tables XI-XIII, pp. 269ff, give the number of R, W, U 
judgments made in brightness-discrimination for each day, num- 
ber of R, W, U and % of R judgments for each test, upon 
each variable; and totals for each test, both before and after 
training. 

( I ) Control Experiment 

In order to be more sure of the factors of transference, in 
case there should be any, a control experiment was devised. 

Three reagents were given tests in brightness-discrimination 
under conditions identical with those obtaining with the regular 
reagents, except that two instead of three days were taken as a 
basis for a test. And after an interval, without practice, of 46 
days, the tests were repeated. 

Tables XVI-XVII (p. 271) give the data from Avhich effi- 
ciencies were calculated in the same manner as were the others. 

Tables XVIII and XIX (p. 272) compare the results of the 
two groups of reagents. 

(2) Results 

A comparison of results for all reagents is given in absolute 
amounts in Table XVIII and in relative amounts in Table XIX. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 45 

The per cents in the latter table are all reckoned upon the whole 
number of judgments in their respective tests which are repre- 
sented in the tables. 

From Table XVIII it may be seen that in the test on bright- 
ness-discrimination Aw., a regular reagent, made 66.7% in R 
judgments before training, and 71.1% after, showing a gain of 
the difference, 4.4%. He made at the beginning of training 
on sound-discrimination, 36.7%, and at the end, 51.7%, showing 
a gain resulting from training of the difference, 15%. In both 
test and training series he lost in 'undecided' judgments. 

RL, a control reagent, made in the test before the unpracticed 
interval 68.3% in R judgments, and 63.3% after, showing a 
loss of the difference, 5%. There was also a gain of 5% in 
'undecided' judgments. 

Of the four regular reagents, Ya. is the only one who did 
not show improvement in the test in brightness-discrimination, 
and he shows no improvement in training on sound-discrimina- 
tion. He is the only reagent, also, who shows an increase in U 
judgments in the test series, and he shows similar increase in 
the training series. 

All control reagents show a loss in R judgments^ in the test 

'To a statement of this fact in a former report (Am. Jr. Psychol. 18:332) 
a recent reviewer objects : "But the only use to which this fact should be 
put is to prove the unreliability of a determination of discrimination of 
brightness based on seventy comparisons of pairs of grays. To defend 
general spread of special practice by the doctrine that men possess a ten- 
dency to grow worse and worse each week if left without it, is more dam- 
aging to it than to attack it." (Thorndike: Educational Psychology, vol. II, 
p. 400.) This "only use to which this fact should be put," it must be con- 
fessed, did not appear so conclusive to the authors of that report in the face 
of the consistency of the three measurements; they were inclined to let it 
stand as evidence of no improvement. Since some further significance, how- 
ever, seems demanded, the writer begs to suggest that owing to general 
fatigue of the reagents, incident to the heavier work of the end of the Sem- 
ester, or to slightly more difficult conditions for discrimination, incident to 
the use of another pair of discs in all the after-interval tests, either or both 
limiting causes applying equally to both groups of reagents, Right judg- 
« ments were slightly more difficult to make after the interval than before, 
and, consequently, the real effect of practice in sound-discrimination upon 
facility in brightness-discrimination is probably in excess of the amounts 
reported in the tables. 

An implication, in the same review, to the effect that the use of 'like' 



46 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

after their unpracticed interval, and two of them show also a 
gain in U judgments. 

(3) Conclusion 

The transference of improvement in sensible discrimination 
from training on sound stimuli to efficiency with brightness 
stimuli would seem to be unequivocally shown by these results. 

All the reagents who showed improvement in the training 
on sound, showed improvement in the tests on brightness. One 
reagent who took training and did not show improvement in 
the tests on brightness showed no improvement in his training 
on sound. All the reagents who took the tests on brightness, 
but who took no training during the interval between the tests, 
showed no improvement. 

The increase in efficiency in brightness discrimination was 
not due to practice incident to the tests. 

The factors of improvement which have proven to be so 
general in character are not identical motor elements, for appli- 
cation to the two kinds of data employed disparate senses. 

To locate them we will have to resort to an analysis of the 



judgments has clouded our measurement of the capacity for discrimination 
and has opened the door to increase in Right judgments merely through 
"taking pains to get a judgment of difference one way or the other" (p. 400), 
neglects several important considerations, (i) There is no psychological pro- 
cedure, with the method of Right and Wrong Cases, for determining the 
capacity for sensible discrimination without the use of the 'like' or 'unde- 
cided' judgments ; (2) The process of discrimination is itself "taking pains 
to get a judgment of difference one way or the other," and increase in capac- 
ity involves diminishing the number of U judgments in the increase of the 
number of R judgments. (3) If "taking pains" were to involve guessing and 
not judgment of difference, W cases would increase as rapidly (theoreti- 
cally) as R cases in the reduction of the number of U cases ; whereas, 
the two trained reagents (Aw. and Cr.) who increased their R cases most 
also decreased slightly their W cases. (4) A forcing of judgment "of dif- 
ference one way or the other" would adulterate the R cases, won by "taking 
pains," with R cases, won by chance, distributed by the usual caprice of 
variability from theoretical probability, and, consequently, would preclude 
a measurement of the capacity for discrimination altogether, (s) The use 
of 'like' or 'undecided' judgments permits the segregation of guesses from 
judgments, and, consequently, the measurement of capacity for discrimination 
in per cent of R cases. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE A,7 

process of discrimination which the introspections from the 
training in sound enable us to make. 

Although sensible discrimination is one of the simplest and 
most fundamental of mental activities, these introspections show 
it to be quite complex : The attention during discrimination may 
have an 

(A) External reference, in which case the events compared are thought of 
as external to the body. And the judgment may be the result of (ii) Com- 
paring images, or it may be (2) Absolute (without comparison). If it is the 
result of 

(i) Comparison of images, the essential or sound images may be accom- 
panied by images of disparate senses which may control the judgment; they 
may be 

(a) Kinaesthetic, as pronouncing the name of the quality or inten- 
sity of sound, or as the feeling of effort necessary to produce the sound, by 
striking the table with a gavel (Aw. May 5, IV) ; or 

(b) Visual, as picturing the apparatus and the falling ball, as seeing 
one strike a table with a gavel, as seeing a ball fall, as seeing smoke that would 
be produced by a percussion cap sounding that loud, as seeing a phonetic 
illustration of the sound ; e.g., "Visual image of a tool bench where I worked 
a while last summer; the sounds seemed similar" (Aw. May 8, IV). Had a 
visual image of "an object falling on sounding board" (Aw. May 5, IV). 
Had a visual image of a "mouth slowly contracting to give a lower sound" 
(Aw. May 5, IV). "Had a sudden visual image of illustration in phonetics to 
fit the norm, and thought of it as aibout three and one-half inches in diameter 
the short way. When the variable came it took like form, but smaller." 
(Cr. May 10, II). 

(c) The sound images may come with attributes of quickness, 
sharpness, length, breadth, or distance: "Variable came forth quickly. Had 
visual image of quick movement" (Na. March 15, II). "Variable had a long- 
drawn-out sound" (Aw. May 8, II). "Variable is broader sound, that is to 
say, widely spread" (Na. March 13, II). "Variable comes from farther 
place," "Variable comes from nearer source," "Variable is a small sound" 
(Na. March 13, II). 

(d) The accompanying imagery may be auditory, as, "Pitch was 
higher," (CI. March 15, I). "Lower in pitch" (CI. March 15, I), or it may 
seem muffled. Then there are 

(2) Absolute judgments made without comparison, and which may or 
may not be accompanied by the same imagery as the above. "The last one was 
weak, and I did not compare it with the norm" (Aw. March 13, I). And 
the final form is 

(3) Without localization of the sounds and without accompanying 
images from disparate senses. 

But the attention during discrimination may have an 



48 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(B) Internal reference, in which the events compared are thought of as 
internal to the body. The comparison of norm and variable may be between 

(i) Ear disturbances, the ringing or resonance of the sounds as lo- 
cated in the ear. "Had resonance in ear" (CI. Mardh 13, II). Or comparison 
may be between the 

(2) 'Affects' upon us as a sensing being, and may be accompanied by 
imagery, as of being struck on the arm with the suggested intensity. "Dis- 
criminate 'affects' in head rather than external sounds" (Cr. May 15, IV). Or 
the comparison may be between 

(3) Degrees of reaction to the two sounds, in which the reagent abstracts 
from the kind of stimuli, — light, tactual, or electrical, would do as well and 
could be compared with each other, — as the reactions to a flash from a search- 
light or the explosion of a torpedo ; to the flash of a bicycle-lamp and the 
slam of a door or a nudge in the ribs. "Seemed to compare reactions to 
the sounds" (Cr. March 15, I and March 20, III). 

This classification of factors involved in the process of sensible 
discrimination of sound stimuli, as the introspections quoted will 
serve to indicate, is not merely a logical scheme, but rests solely 
upon our results. These are some of the factors involved, and 
they may become controlling factors also, so that had they not 
accompanied the process, the judgment upon a given pair of 
stimuli would have been reversed. Without doubt the imagery, 
whether attention is directed externally or internally to the 
events compared, is in its quantitative aspect suggested by the 
real intensities of the sounds. But the imagery may carry the 
suggesting elements beyond the degree suggested; and it may, 
if it is not suggested by the intensity but by some other attri- 
bute of the sound, counteract and overcome the 'real relation 
of the intensities, so as to reverse the judgment. E.g., (i) If 
the imagery is that of falling balls upon a sounding board, and 
some quality of the given sound other than intensity suggests 
the second as being larger than the first although it does not 
appear to fall from as great a height (suggested by the in- 
tensity of the sound), the judgment may be 'greater' in deference 
to the suggested difference in size; when, had the imagery left 
the size the same, the judgment would have been 'less' in de- 
ference to the height. (2) If the second sound seems to come 
from farther away than the first, judgment may make allowance 
for the difference in distance and thereby underestimate the 
former. Or (3) if the second sound seems muffled, allowance 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 49 

may be made in the judgment for it and it may be reported as 
intense as it would have been had it not been muffled. (4) If 
the second sound seems quicker, sharper, or narrower, its in- 
tensity through analogy from pressure or pain sensation may 
be overestimated. (5) When the ear disturbance is the object 
of attention, the variation of the pressure of the air in the 
middle ear due to the eustachian tube opening and closing while 
swallowing, and of the adjustment of the tympanum, make dif- 
ferent bases upon which sounds of the same intensity may be 
judged to be different. (6) If the 'affect' is the object of 
attention and the imagery is of being struck, any suggestion 
that results in having the second stroke fall upon the same or 
a more tender place might lead to over-estimating its intensity. 
(7) And our reactions may also be modified by elements of 
imagery suggested beyond the warrant of the intensities of 
the sounds, and also by an imagery in which our responsiveness 
is an essential element, so as to result in modified judgments 
upon the sounds (reactions). 

Besides these various factors which accompany the essential 
sound-discriminating process by reason of imagery or the direc- 
tion of attention to the events compared, there are disturbing 
factors of a general nature, as strong expectation for a loud 
or weak sound, and the varying intensity of the state of atten- 
tion. If a loud sound is strongly expected, a weak one may 
seem weaker; if a weak one is expected, a loud one may seem 
louder. If the intensity of the state of the attention is sought 
to be kept at maximum, it will vary greatly, due both to its 
own rhythm and to the varying subjective conditions upon which 
it depends. 

Improvement seems to consist in divesting the essential pro- 
cess of the unessential factors, freeing judgment from illusions 
to which the unnecessary and often fantastic imagery gives 
rise, and of obtaining a uniform state of attention which is 
less than the maximum: "Judgment does not require strained 
attention. All are quite certain or satisfactory. Don't see 
what the process is now — seems automatic," (Cr. May 12, IV). 



50 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

And uniformity of direction of attention may also result: "Am 
able to abstract from visual image of the apparatus entirely, 
and yet refer the sounds to external stimuli. This seems to 
take the least effort and is more satisfactory," (Cr. May 17, IV). 
Many of the introspections of the various reagents, near the 
end of the training, were, "No imagery." 

Our conclusion upon the experiment, therefore, is that 
efficiency in sensible discrimination acquired by training with 
sound stimuli has been transferred to the efficiency in dis- 
criminating brightness-stimuli, and that the factors in this 
transference of power are necessarily general rather than special 
in character. 

b. Reaction with Discrimination and Choice 

Reaction with discrimination and choice is also a relatively 
simple, definite, and measurable activity, which permits a change 
in both the motor expression and in the stimuli for the inter- 
polated psychical process. 

Identical motor elements were eliminated by employing a 
different kind of stimulus, and a different form of reaction, 
although the sense of sight received the stimuli, and reactions 
were made by the movements of the hands. 

The object of the experiment was to determine the influence 
of improvement in the efficiency of one activity upon the 
facility of improvement in another already practiced. This 
influence could show itself either in lowering reaction-time in 
the latter, or making it more regular, or both, — which would 
be apparent in a practice curve of the tested ability. 

Four reagents were trained, during the period of about 40 
days (CI. 46, Al. 41, Cr. 41, Bs. 27), for about 15 days (CI. 14, 
Al. 13, Cr. 15, Bs. 11) in card-sorting; during which time 
about 4000 cards were distributed by each reagent (CI. 4200, 
Al. 3800, Cr. 5200, Bs. 4000). 

Before the training in the card-sorting the reagents were 
trained for 5 days in typewriter-reaction aggregating about 3000 
reactions (CI. 2900, Al. 2900, Cr. 2700, Bs. 3100) and after 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 5i 

training in card-sorting, for three days, aggregating about 1800 
reactions (CI., Al, Cr., 1800, Bs. 1700). 

For the card-sorting we used a cabinet, similar to that illus- 
trated in the Psych. Rev.^<* by Jastrow, which had six com- 
partments {4% X 4% in.) in which to distribute the cards; 
and smooth round-cornered cards of bufT-colored Bristol-board 
(77x52 mm.), in the center of which was painted in water-colors 
a rectangle (12x52mm.), six colors being used: Red, Blue, 
Black, and Brown, in a quite heavy shade; and Yellow, and 
Green in rather a tint than a shade. The cabinet stood at a 
convenient height, and was entirely covered with black cloth 
to avoid distraction. 

In card-sorting the reagent stood at the cabinet, and held 
in his left hand a pack of 50 cards, from the top of which he 
would grasp a card, turn it up sufficiently to see its color on the 
under surface, and toss it into its appropriate compartment. In 
about the middle of the training the color labels were removed 
from the compartments. 

The cards were arranged into packs of 50, according to 12 
different orders in which each color appeared about as often 
as another, each preceding and succeeding each other about 
equally often, and no color recurred with less than two inter- 
vening colors. (See Table XX, p. 274, for the orders.) 

The assignment of the colors to the compartments was so 
made that the more apparent spatial relations of the latter would 
not correspond with the complementary or family relations of 
the former : 



Brown 


Green 


Yellow 


Blue 


Black 


Red 



For the typewriter-reaction we used a No. 7 Blickensderfer 
typewriter, which was fitted up with a screen through a window 
in which but one letter could appear at a time. Series of letters 
were printed with the typewriter and cut into strips which could 

*° Jastrow: Sorting apparatus for the study of Reaction Times. Psych. 
Rev., 1898, 5:279-285. 



52 JOHISI EDGAR COOVER 

be clipped to the 'scale-bar' and moved behind the screen by 
the 'carriage.' The spacing of the letters in the series and of 
the typewriter action being the same, the strip could be so 
adjusted that every stroke on the key-board would automatically 
present a new letter at the window in the screen. ^^ 

The various series were made up of 4 letters in such a way 
that each letter appeared about as often as another, and preceded 
and succeeded each other and itself about equally often. A 
letter was added to the beginning of each series the reaction 
to which was not counted. (See sample. Appendix B. Fig. 4, 
p. 289.) 

In the typewriter-reaction the reagent sat at the machine and, 
holding his hands in position over the lower bank of keys so that 
the first two fingers could strike the first two keys on either side 
of the middle, reacted with the appropriate fingers, to the letters 
which appeared through the screen, the order of the keys upon 
which the fingers rested, from the left, being a-t-e-n. These 
were the letters used in constructing the series. 

The time of reaction to each letter, as well as of the whole 
series of fifty was recorded in another room by electrical con- 
nections upon a kymograph drum which synchronously recorded 
seconds from a metronome. 

The typewriter itself made records of the reactions which 
could be inspected for accuracy. 

Efficiencies in both card-sorting and typewriter-reaction were 
calculated in time (seconds) and accuracy (errors) per 100 
reactions. 

( I ) Control Experiment 

In order to determine more definitely whether improvement 
shown in typewriter-reaction was due to the training in card- 
sorting, three reagents were trained in the typewriter-reaction 
(600 per day) three days before and two days after an interval 
of 45 days during which no training was taken.^^ 

^The typewriter thus equipped constituted, in its essentials, Seashore's 
"Psychergograph" (vid. Univ. Iowa Studies in Psychol., 1902, 3:1-7). 

" Owing to the imperfections of this control experiment, indicated in the 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 53 

(2) Results 

Table XXI (Appendix A, p. 275) gives the time and accuracy 
of successive hundred reactions on the typewriter for the regular 
reagents, both (A) before and (B) after training in card-sorting. 
The italicized figures represent the time of the first hundred 
reactions of the day's training. 

Table XXII (p. 276) gives the daily average time and error 
per 100 reactions on the typewriter, for the regular reagents, both 
(A) before and (B) after training in card-sorting. 

Table XXIII (p. 276) gives the time and errors of the suc- 
cessive hundred reactions on the typewriter for the control 
reagents, both (A) before and (B) after an interval without 
practice; Table XXIV (p. 278) shows the daily averages. 

Table XXV (p. 282) gives the time and errors per successive 
100 reactions of the regular reagents in the card-sorting training. 
The time of the first 100 in the day's training is italicized. 

Table XXVI (p. 283) gives the daily averages of the same. 

These last two tables and Plate XVI (p. 284) show that in the 
card-sorting training, maximal efficiency was approximately at- 
tained. The curves (Plates XVI and XVII, pp. 284-5) show 
lack of drop and are fairly regular. 

From inspection of Tables XXI and XXII and of Plates 
XIII and XV (pp. 275ff) drawn therefrom, it may be seen how 
the practice in card-sorting affected the typewriter-reaction. The 
curves in the case of all reagents are lower, showing shorter 
reaction-time, and they are more regular, showing less variability. 

(a) Errors 

But the tables also show in the second training an increase 

of errors, and the question immediately presents itself as to 

whether the increase in speed, as shown in the tables and curves, 

has not been due to greater inaccuracy and therefore no increase 

following pages, a second group of four control reagents were later given 
practice equivalent to that taken by the Regular reagents. These later results 
are included in the tables and plates, although it is not possible to spare 
space for a qualitative discussion of them which would modify slightly their 
interpretation, because of their decisive contribution. 



54 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

in efficiency is shown as the resuh of the card-sorting practice. 

Calculation, however, shows that the records most responsible 
for reducing the time are also those which were made with the 
lower per cents of error (inspect records in Table XXI B), 
or, stated differently, that the higher per cents of error correlate 
with longer time and that the reduction in time has been made 
in spite of the increase in errors. 

From the cord-sorting data (Table XXV) 32 time records, 
half with no errors and half with four or more errors, per 100 
reactions, taken from the data of Al., Cr., and Bs., — pairs taken 
from the same days in a manner to eliminate practice effect,' — • 
gave an average of 96.5 seconds per 100 reactions, with no 
errors, and 102.2 seconds per 100 with four or more errors. 

From each of the last eight days of training (including three 
after card-sorting practice) were selected from the typewriter- 
reaction data (Table XXI), the time of the 100 reactions made 
with the fewest errors, and the time of the 100 reactions made 
with the greatest number or errors for the day. The data of 
each reagent were kept separate and the columns of time and 
errors averaged with the following results : 

CI. with 0.06 errors averages 66.4 sec. for 100 reactions 
Al. 



Cr. 
Bs. 



The shorter time being correlated with the fewer errors can- 
not be accounted for by the possibility that the selected records 
of the fewer errors have occurred in the latter part of the 
day's practice and hence would represent a disproportionate 
amount of daily practice-effect, for the records of the greatest 
number of errors have occurred later in the day's practice just 
once more than those of the least number of errors. 

Introspections from all reagents support the showing made 



2.2> 




" 


67.9 " " " 


4.7 


« 


a 


72.0 " " ' 


9-9 




(( 


73.0 " " " 


1-4 




« 


65.6 " " " 


5-9 




« 


68.4 " " " 


2.3 




(( 


77.8 " " " 


7-9 




« 


81.6 " " " 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 55 

by the above data as to the relation between errors and speed: 
Cr. said, "Made mistake and was bothered thereby," (March 3), 
"Errors result in confusion and pauses," (March 15). Al. re- 
marked, "the large number of mistakes impedes rapidity, as one 
is troubled by them," (April 27). And Bs. noted, "mistakes 
were noticed and caused confusion at the time," (March 20). 
For these three reagents, errors reduced the speed by confusing 
or vexing them; but for CI., by inducing introspection: "I do 
not care for the making of a mistake in and of itself, but I 
always pause to think of it and wonder why, and that lessens 
my attention to the business in hand," (March i) ; "The time I 
spent thinking of a mistake caused a delay," (Feb. 24). Our 
errors in reacting are thus causes of decrease rather than of 
increase in speed. 

As a matter of fact the errors are not greatly increased as 
may be seen from the daily averages in Table XXII : for CI., Cr., 
and Bs,, the increase is less than 2% in the second training in 
typewriter-reaction; for Al. they increased but 6%, and much 
of this may be accounted for by the fact that Al. fell more 
heavily under the unfavorable conditions of the second training, 
to be noticed later, than did the other reagents. 

Some of the increase in errors for all reagents is undoubtedly 
the result of the same unfavorable conditions of the second 
training, and some of it is due to the inability to inhibit anticipa- 
tory reactions during the rapid rythm of the later practice, which 
had been inhibited in the slower rythm of the earlier practice. 
This latter fact is also supported by evidence from introspection, 
e.g., when reactions were running 73.5 sec. per 100, CI. said, 
"Several mistakes inhibited," (March i), and after practice had 
reduced the time to 63.3 sec. per 100, she said, "Was running 
quickly; reaction simply came before I could inhibit making 
mistake of an a for an n," (March 10). The increase of errors 
may not mean that the efficiency of reaction to letters is less 
therefore, but that facility of reaction has increased to such a 
speed that anticipatory reactions previously inhibited are now 
made before they can be inhibited. And the error once made, 
the speed is retarded. 



56 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

In comparing efficiencies in the typewriter-reaction, therefore, 
we may look upon the time record as a satisfactory measure. 

For the purpose of learning whether the more unstable asso- 
ciations between the various letters and their proper reactions of 
the first training were also those of the second training, the 
errors of the whole period of training in typewriter-reaction 
were collected and classified. The weaker associations were the 
same for both periods. For CI. e and t were interchanged more 
than any other two letters, and a and t were the second pair in 
instability; for Al. a and t, and e and t; for Cr. e and t, and a 
and t; for Bs. e and a, and e and t. The card-sorting did not 
change the peculiarities in the errors of the respective reagents. 

There were probably six causes for the errors : ( i ) Lack of 
coordination between the letter and its proper reaction, (2) an- 
ticipation of a letter in which the reaction took place before the 
letter was cognized, (3) false cognition of the letter, (4) reac- 
tion incited by rhythm without recognition of the letter, (5) 
misplacement of the fingers on the keys, and (6) raising a fairly 
automatic process into clearer consciousness and giving the 
control for the moment to voluntary attention. The 4th and 
6th causes enumerated are probably the chief factors in the 
increase of errors in the second training. 

(b) Time 

The gradual improvement made in the card-sorting may be 
seen in Table XXV (p. 282) and on Plate XVI (p. 284). If 
the first and last 400 reactions are taken for calculating initial 
and final efficiencies, the training resulted in the following prac- 
tice-effect, in decrease of time: CI. 23.5%, Al. 28%, Cr. 22%, 
Bs. 30%. 

The decrease in time in the second training in typewriter- 
reaction is noticeable in both Tables (XXI, p. 275, XXII, p. 276) 
and Curves (Plates XIII, p. 279, XV, p. 281). 

But inspection of the Tables XXIII and XXIV (pp. 276-8), and 
Plates XIV (p. 280) and XV (p. 281) of the control reagents 
shows that they also improved in speed after their unpracticed 
interval, which suggests that the improvement of the regular 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 57 

reagents may not have been the result of the training in card- 
sorting, and invites an examination into the relative facility of 
improvement.^^ 

The curves of the regular reagents, after training in card- 
sorting, show more improvement in regularity than do those of 
the control reagents, after the unpracticed interval; they also 
shov^ the drop in time to be greater (except in the case of 
Ge., whose curve is quite abnormal). (The line through the 
curves shows the average of the last day before card-sorting.) 

To express quantitatively the relative improvement in speed, 
data were selected from Tables XXI and XXIII and arranged 
as is found in Table XXVII (p. 283). The average reaction 
time per 100 was found for the second and third days of training 
for both regular and control reagents; with this was compared 
the average time per 100 for the 4th and 5th days of training, 
which followed the 2d and 3d in continuous training in the case 
of the regular reagents, but which came after the unpracticed 

" To indicate the pitfalls for the statistician who is so completely absorbed 
in the tables of quantitative results as to neglect the processes involved in 
producing the results, a recent reviewer may be aptly quoted at this point: 
"Nothing whatever is needed to account for the improvement in typewriting 
save the special practice in it" (Thorndike: Educational Psychology, vol. 
II 407) : the average "improvement from the first three days before training 
to the second three before training is greater than the improvement from 
th2 three before, to the three after, training" {op. cit., 406) ; as though one 
might expect considerable improvement in this typewriter-reaction after the 
practice-effect of 3000 reactions which for half of the trained reagents had 
produced about maximal efficiency. And it is claimed that the control reagents 
"show no inferiority" to the trained reagents {ibid. 407) ; whereas, as is 
shown later, the gain during the interval by the only control reagent whose 
results are comparable to the others is exceeded by the gains of the trained 
reagents Al. and Bs. and about equaled by the gains of CI. and Cr. for whom, 
the averages of the table might have suggested, the reactions had become 
automatic. 

Apart from the unwarrantable aggregating of results so disparate in ef- 
ficiency (or their place on the practice-curve), and a disregard of the analysis 
in the text, the reviewer's error is minimized by the fact that by chance only 
the daily averages were accessible to him. The curves (pp. 279!?) plotted by 
successive 100 reactions show the facts more clearly, and, if examined with 
the cautions noted in the text, will, in all probability, clear the authors of 
the charge that they "endeavor to extract evidence" {ibid. 408) of transfer- 
ence. The facts would then seem to prove the conclusions. 



S8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

interval in the case of the control reagents. The gain made by 
the control reagent Mn. (7%) is about the same as that made 
by the regular reagents (CI. 6%, Al. 0.8 fo, Cr. 3%, Bs. 8%) 
in continuous practice. (We disregard Ge.'s data — 16% — here 
as abnormal, for reasons given later, and because they represent 
series of reactions in which frequent and often long lapses of at- 
tention played a great part). Mn. shows gain as a result of the 
interval. But comparison of the average time per 100 reactions 
for the last two days before training in card-sorting with the 
average for the first two days after training shows the regular 
reagents to have gained more than Mn. after the unpracticed in- 
terval (CI. 6%, Al. 16%, Cr. 5%, Bs. 12%), except in the cases 
of CI. and Cr., to be noticed later, in which the gain was about 
as much. 

A comparison of the results in Table XXVII (p. 283) as well 
as of the curves is misleading unless several things are borne in 
mind, the principal of which are ( i ) that the control reagents 
had trained but three days (Gs. one day) before their unpracticed 
interval, while the regular reagents trained five days before their 
training in card-sorting, and for that reason the former would 
be expected to show more improvement in their second training 
as a result of practice in that training; and (2) that the control 
reagents in their training before the unpracticed interval showed 
comparatively long times from which great improvement in both 
absolute amount and per cent could be made before much skill 
would be shown: the last daily average before the interval, for 
Mn., is as high as the first daily average of two of the regular 
reagents (CI., Cr.), and for Ge. almost as high as the first daily 
averages of the slowest regular reagents (AL, Bs.). 

With these facts in mind the comparison of averages in Table 
XXVII (p. 283) of the curves on Plates XIII-XV (pp. 2yg^) 
discloses a noticeable improvement in regularity in the cases of 
CI. and Cr., and a marked improvement in speed in the cases of 
Al. and Bs., which is attributable to the training in card-sorting.^"^ 

"The curves of the second group of control reagents (Bd., Bh., Bs. 2, and 
Cf.) compare favorably, in time, with those of the regular reagents CI. and 
Cr., for whom the processes had become automatic, but they contrast mark- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 59 

Some explanation might be offered for the fact that the im- 
provement in speed was not more marked. First, we had sought 
to determine the effect of training in card-sorting upon the 
practice-curve of typewriter-reactions. But the typewriter- 
reaction curve had already attained to records of approximately 
the maximum speed for both CI. and Cr. CI. is skilled in 
piano-playing, and Cr. in typewriting. They trained for five 
days before the point was reached where the influence of another 
training should be determined. 

On the second day of practice CI. remarked, "The fingers 
begin to react at the mere sight of the letters now"; on the third 
day, "Reacting today is growing more mechanical ;" and on the 



edlj' with those of AI. and Bs., indicating more certainly than was done be- 
fore the influence of the card-sorting practice. The particularly significant 
comparable curves are those of the regular reagents Al. and Bs. and the 
control reagents Cf. and Mn. 

Some slight additional evidence in support of the hypothesis of a function- 
al relationship between the two kinds of reaction we have employed is 
afforded by an auxiliary experiment in which the influence of practice in 
typewriter-reaction upon card-sorting was tested. The four reagents, men- 
tioned above and on pp S2f as the second group of control reagents, served 
in this experiment as the regular reagents, practiced by 4000 typewriter-re- 
actions each. Immediately before and on the last day of that practice they 
sorted at one sitting four packs of 50 playing-cards into four compartments 
labeled Diamonds, Spades, Clubs, and Hearts : 

D S 

C H 

The intervals between sortings were 58. days for Bd., Bh., and Bs. 2, and 
44 days for Cf. 

Two control reagents, Cn., and Sn., sorted four packs each, before and 
after intervals of 56 days and 53 days respectively. 

Both groups of reagents had had extended practice throughout the pre- 
ceding semester in sorting playing cards by suit according to a different 
method. They sorted in piles upon a table instead of into compartments, and 
sorted to the place of the preceding card instead of to the place of the card 
held. All were therefore nearer practiced condition in sorting cards before 
the interval than after it, which may account for the loss of the control 
reagents. 

One of the regular reagents (Bs. 2) was suffering from a severe cold on 
the day of her final sorting and shows no improvement; the others seem to 
have carried over some practice-effect from typewriter-reaction to card-sort- 
ing, as may be seen from Table XXVIII (p. 286) and Plate XVIII (p. 287). 



6o JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

fifth day, "Reaction to the sight of the letter is so automatic that 
I can think of other things as I operate. . . . During the reaction 
attention was not well concentrated at times because I was think- 
ing of the influence of thinking about your rate of speed upon 
your speed." Reacting had obviously become automatic. And 
Cr. on the third day of training remarked, "reacting is becoming 
very mechanical." Hence in these two cases we have determined 
the effect of training in card-sorting upon typewriter-reaction 
after it had already been trained to a high degree of automatiza- 
tion. The cases of Al. and Bs. are different. Neither is skilled 
in typewriting, although each had used a typewriter, and Al. 
remarked, "No application of former practice with the type- 
writer, — motion a new one," (Feb. 24). They did not speak of 
the process as being automatic before the card-sorting began, — 
and they show greater practice-effect. 

Another reason may be given for the reduction in time not 
being more marked. The second training on the typewriter 
was taken by the Regular reagents during April 26-28 while 
everybody was rushed with work preparing for the closing of 
the semester, and meeting the many social duties coming at 
that time, all of which occasioned general fatigue in at least 
three of the reagents. Cr. took the first day's work in the 
second training so late that the room was dusk and his atten- 
tion was almost wholly directed to the perception of the letters : 
"Had to strain to perceive the letters; this part of the process 
demanded all the attention; some errors are due to mistaking 
at first the letter outline" (April 26). Al. was doing heavy 
work day and night: "Reagent very tired, cannot hold atten- 
tion; up till I o'clock preceding night busied with exhausting 
and harassing work" (April 27). And CI. noted, "Have been 
up late for six out of seven nights past and feel somewhat 
below normal." 

But the most marked effect of card-sorting on the typewriter- 
reaction is shown by introspections. On the first day of the 
second training CI. remarks, "Sight of letter produced the reac- 
tion movement without my thinking of my fingers and not at 
all of the sight of the keys" (April 26). Al. remarked, "No 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 6i 

headache, no nausea, as before card-sorting," "Much easier than 
at first" ; "General background of f eehng is probably not unlike 
that of card-sorting, but I did not think of the card-sorting 
during the trial" (April 26). Cr. said, "Process was sur- 
prisingly automatic and was accompanied with ease" (April 26) ; 
"seems more automatic than ever before, and even more so than 
the card-sorting. I do not pay slightest attention to the fingers 
or the keyboard when the process is going best ... it appears 
that the old associations have not only not been interfered with by 
forming new ones in card-sorting but that they have become 
firmer and action upon them more ready and automatic than it 
was before or than it was in card-sorting," (April 27). On 
the last day of typewriter-training before card-sorting began, Bs. 
remarked, "Pauses between letters caused by having to think 
which finger I should put down," and on the first day after 
card-sorting, "Seemed more natural than I thought it would," 
and the next day, "Seemed more natural to react today, demands 
less attention, tendency to become automatic." 

The introspections of the control reagents, none of whom was 
familiar with typewriting, show that while some ease and 
facility were experienced before the interval, reaction afterwards 
seemed unexpectedly "difficult" and "unhandy:" Mn. stated 
in the second training that "Reacting seemed difficult," "Seemed 
to have to stop to think which finger was to react to the dif- 
ferent letters." Ge. in the training before the interval said, 
"The reactions are becoming more automatic," and afterward, 
that he "looked at letters not knowing what to do" and that 
"combination of letters here was particularly unhandy," The 
interval without practice resulting in a feeling of discomfort 
and difficulty, strengthens the point of the preceding paragraph 
that the training in card-sorting is the cause of the increased 
ease and facility experienced by the regular reagents in the 
second training in the typewriter-reaction. 

(3) Conclusion 

We conclude, therefore, from the results of this experiment, 
that training the activity of reaction with discrimination and 



62 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

choice by sorting cards into compartments has increased the 
facihty of the same activity in both speed and regularity in 
typewriter-reaction (a) noticeably in regularity in two cases after 
the latter had become automatic, and (b) markedly in speed in 
two others in the course of practice. 

The cause of transferred facility could not have been identical 
motor elements. In the typewriter-reaction the eyes rested 
sharply fixated upon one spot on the screen while the fingers, 
with coordinating wrist and forearm movements, tapped down 
the keys, accessory muscles being mainly used; in the card-sort- 
ing reaction the eyes moved from the cognized colors on the 
cards about over the compartments of the cabinet or followed 
the movement of the hand and fixation was nowhere so intense, 
while the right arm contributed most of the movement in grasp- 
ing the cards, turning up the under color-surface, and casting 
them into the compartments, using mainly fundamental muscles. 

Neither could the cause have been habituation to the stimuli, 
for they were different in character: one being a small symbol 
(form) and the other a comparatively large rectangular surface 
of color. 

Nor was the cause identical associations between stimuli and 
reactions. 

According to the introspections of the regular reagents on 
their card-sorting training, the process of reaction is variable. 
At the beginning of training they matched the color of the cards 
with the labels on the compartments then to increase speed a 
system of mnemonics is employed designed to form associations 
in the mind between a compartment and its color; this system 
then goes through a process of mutation — becoming abbreviated, 
changed in part, or supplemented, — or is superseded by another; 
finally, through repetition reactions to particular compartments 
become coordinated with their respective colors and are made 
directly, free of the system except in cases of emergency. 
Synchronously with the growth of these coordinations, adven- 
titious processes, as pronouncing the color when cognized, move- 
ment and strain of the whole body, and disadvantageous move- 
ments of the hand, decrease to a minimum. 

According to the introspections of both the regular and control 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 63 

reagents on the typewriter-reaction, the process of reaction goes 
through precisely the same stages, except that it starts with a 
system of mnemonics, and systems are superseded more often. 
No two systems are aHke. But all finally give way to the direct 
reaction which has been coordinated with its letter. Adven- 
titious processes, as pronouncing letters upon cognizing them, 
visualizing keys, fingers, on their order, likewise decrease to a 
minimum. 

These two processes so summarily described are necessarily 
related to their particular stimuli and their appropriate reac- 
tions, and seem therefore fairly independent of each other. 
But there is one common factor already apparent: The habit 
of stripping the essential process of its adventitioits accessories. 
This is one of the causes of transferred facility, and we shall 
notice two others. 

Introspections also state that in any one series several systems 
of mnemonics may be operative ; there may be some direct reac- 
tions due to coordination of stimulus and reaction, some due to 
a kinaesthetic image of recent reaction; that in one part of the 
series one stimulus causes difficulty and in another part another 
stimulus; that some stimuli are harder than others throughout 
the whole series. Improvement here seems to consist in re- 
solving the reaction process to a single type, except in so far 
as reactions become direct, and to attend somewhat more closely 
to the difficult stimuli until their reactions become as ready as 
those to the other stimuli ; but also, not to confine attention so 
closely to the troublesome stimuli that their reactions anticipate 
other stimuli and cause errors thereby. 

Again, introspections and records show that even after a 
mnemonic system has been successfully applied and has served 
to bring stimulus and reaction to a fair degree of coordination, 
lapses of attention occur during which the "mind is a blank/' 
and the drum records abnormally long reactions. Improvement 
here consists in keeping attention upon the matter in hand so 
constantly that irrelevant stimuli are unnoticed. 

We find, therefore, the causes of the transference of facility 
to be (a) the habit of reacting to a stimulus without being 
delayed by prominent kinaesthetic^ acoustic, and motor accom- 



64 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

paniments of recognition, through gradually dropping these out 
of the process, or reducing them to a minimum; (b) an equitable 
distribution of the attention to the various possible reactions 
so as to be about equally prepared for all; and (c) the power of 
concentrating upon the process through a whole series to such 
a degree as to eliminate distraction. 



II. PRINCIPALLY QUALITATIVE 



Experimentation thus far had pretty well established the fact 
of the general effect of special practice, but there is not yet 
a general agreement in the interpretation of the results, as to 
extent and causes of transference of practice-effect; and in 
almost all investigations there stand out anomalous cases which 
remain unexplained. 

Most of the introspective analyses of practice effect show it 
to be extensively general in both positive and negative influence, 
but Sleight argues from the paucity of 'significant' values in his 
tables that it is narrowly specific. Ebert and Meumann found 
training-effect to be permanent for at least three months ; Sleight 
interprets his evidence to indicate that "the effects of both 'direct' 
and 'indirect' practice are usually not permanent."^^ Fracker 

^^ Op. cit., p. 451. 

The effect of practice is found to be more permanent than the opposing 
factors of interference (Bair: The Practice Curve. Psych. Rev. Mon. 1902. 
5:No.2, and Bergstrom : An experimental study of some of the conditions of 
mental activity. Am. Jr. Psych., 1893-4, 6:272) and fatigue (Kraepelin: Die 
Arbeitscurve. Phil. Studien., 1902, 19:476; also, A measure of mental capa- 
city. Pop. Sci. Mo., 1896, 49:760), and although some studies show that the 
greater part of it is soon lost (Kraepelin: loc. cit.), it may endure for a long 
time : 

Kraepelin found that two hours of practice in adding left noticeable traces 
three months afterward, and that the effect of 17 presentations of associations 
was perceptible i^ years later (op. cit. S. 476). 

Ebbinghaus (Grundziige der Psychologie, 2te Auf. Bd. I. S. 633) saved 
7% in number of repetitions upon relearning stanzas from Byron's Don Juan 
after an interval of 22 years ; and 20% after an interval of 17 years. 

Bourdon (Recherches sur I'habitude. Annee Psych. 1901. 8:327-340) 
found that skill acquired in marking out letters in a page of print dropped 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 65 

found the greatest cause of improvement and transference in 
memory of simple sounds or shades, to be the development and 
carrying over of representative imagery of a very simple and 
definite type; while Ebert and Meumann found that in training 
on non-sense syllables the use of, and dependence upon, repre- 
sentative imagery of all kinds dropped away. And Fracker 
is inclined to oppose his results to those of Coover and Angell 
because the latter pointed out the function of representative 
imagery in the processes of discrimination, and of reaction with 
discrimination and choice, to be respectively a distraction, and 
a temporary but probably a necessary means of effecting auto- 
matic coordination between stimulus and reaction. 

Almost all investigators conclude that when transference of 
practice-effect takes place, it varies in amount with the similarity 
of either the material or the method of the tests to the practice, 
and there seems no reason why one should not hope for this 
law to be finally established. But, so far, either the ways in 
which practice and training may be similar must be multiplied 
and further defined or the exceptions to the law appear, upon 
inspection of the results, to be the rule. A few of the anomalies, 
for the purpose of illustration, follow : 

From the results of Thorndike and Woodworth, we note that 
the average gain in training on estimating areas was about 
52%, that tests on the same form within the field of change 
of area in training yielded an average of 61%; but that above 
the field, same form, 16% ; while above the field, different form, 
51%. Again, one reagent (W) in training on estimating 



very little during a rest of 236 days ; and that most of it remained at the 
end of a rest of seven years. 

Book (Psychology of skill, with special reference to its acquisition in 
typewriting. Univ. Mont. Bull. 1908. 53 75) found effect of practice in 
typewriting to persist after a rest of one and a half years. 

Swift (Relearning a skillful act: An experimental study in neuro-muscu- 
lar memory. Psych. Bull. 1910. 7:17-19) found skill in tossing balls to be 
retained 275 days ; and that it could be rapidly regained after an interval of 
6 years. Skill that had required 42 days' practice to attain was regained 
in II days. In the last "try" of his test he exceeded his former skill, in 
number of catches, in the ratio of 1600:1051. 



66 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

weights made 49% improvement, while estimating objects within 
the field of training he made 62%. 

In Ebert and Meumann's research we found improvement in 
'immediate memory' for non-sense syllables (the training 
material) to be 20%; while for numbers it was 29%, and for 
letters, 36%; if the grade of memory at "two-thirds correct" 
is considered, for non-sense syllables it was 49%, but for num- 
bers 56%. In 'complete learning,' for non-sense syllables it 
was 61%, for poetry 20%, but for prose it was 43%. One 
would surmise that the more arbitrary sequence of words in 
poetry would make it more similar than prose to the training. 
Retention after 24 hours, of non-sense syllables, was improved 
45%, but of optical symbols 49% and of prose 67%. 

From Fracker's research we found the average gain in train- 
ing upon memory of sounds 21%, and the average gain upon 
the test on grays 36%, seven of the eight trained reagents gain- 
ing more in this test than in the training. Reagents exceeded 
their training gain in other tests also : on nine tones, 4 reagents ; 
on nine grays, 4; on four pitches of a tone, 2; on geometrical 
figures, 3. From the monograph, we learn that F. S., "a grad- 
uate student in psychology, who was trained in many forms 
of experiment" (p. 64), trained on sound 8 days, taking four 
sets of 75 sounds each, per day; he started at 70% reproduced 
elements, and finished with 40%, while three of the other 
reagents finished near or above 90%. In spite of his inverted 
practice curve he shows gains in his tests, however. If his 
most efficient imagery was auditory, as it seems from intro- 
spections upon training, and his test on four pitches (p. 82), 
to have been, how did he by a change of method make his 
greatest gain (26%) upon the four grays, and how make so 
little gain upon nine tones (i %), and upon nine numbers (4% ) ? 
Another reagent (H. C. E.) who developed during training 
a very definite visual system of imagery involving four posi- 
tions, made more gain upon the square of geometrical figures 
(35%) than he did in training (27%), and less upon the four 
pitches (23%) than upon the figures. 

From Sleight's research we noted that of the three trained 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 67 

groups of children, but one group showed improvement in the 
tests more similar in material to their training and that accord- 
ing to the two sets of data there are scarcely any correspondences 
between the 'significant' values of the children and the adults. 

It is probable that the conflicting nature of results rests largely 
upon differences in detail of experimental procedure: the kind 
and length of training, the kind, length, and number of tests, 
and the manner of scoring and comparing results. 

The paucity of 'significant' values in Sleight's tables may 
indicate merely that (a) the training-effect of practice on the 
trained groups is but slightly greater than the training-effect of 
other school work upon all the reagents; (b) statistical treat- 
ment smothers the facts: e.g., with a probable error of 16, and 
a difference-score of 53, a 'significant' value would necessitate 
a gain of 30 points in the second test over the first when the 
average score in the first was but 66.8 (Group 2, on points ),^^ 
which means that if the gain in the second test is not about 
half the initial capacity it cannot be considered really significant ; 
(c) the probable error is unduly large, by reason of widely 
differing initial efficiencies of individuals (in the test on points 
initial efficiencies ranged: for School X 27-93, for School 
Y 32-129, for School Z 23-132).^''^ Where individuals differ 
so greatly in capacity, we learn in following experiments, they 
are not doing the same thing, not applying themselves to the 
same kind of work.^^ 

The permanence of training-effect found by Ebert and Meu- 
mann may, as Sleight thinks, be due to the inadequacy of the 
per cent method of expressing results, or to greater ease of 
the later tests ; again, it may be due to the rigor of the training, 
which greatly exceeded that of Sleight's reagents. 

The usefulness of representative imagery found by Fracker 
may be largely due to the small number of separate units of 

^' Op. cit., Tables, pp. 412-417. 

^'' Idem, Table T, pp. 410-411. 

" Hollingworth (Individual differences before, during, and after practice. 
Psych. Rev., 1914, 21 :8) upon the basis of low correlation in early practice 
changing to high correlation in later practice, concluded that in the early 
trials he was not "measuring the same thing with all performers." 



68 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

which his series were made up, and to the simplicity of the 
stimuli, both of which conditions were foreign to the training 
material of the reagents of Ebert and Meumann. 

The anomalous cases may be due to inadequate methods of 
comparing results or to a radical change in the reagent's 
processes. 

If the initial capacities of two reagents are not about equal, 
and the improvement is made through increasing the number 
of units of work within a given time, not only will the difference- 
score of the lower capacity have the advantage of the higher, 
because of more room for improvement, but expression in per 
cent of gain will exaggerate this advantage. (When the score 
is reckoned in decrease of time taken to perform a given amount 
of work, the expression of the score-differences in the form of 
per cent, of course, compensates in a measure the advantage of 
the low initial capacity). 

That some anomalies are the result of radical changes in 
the reagent's processes may be illustrated by a few cases re- 
ported in experiments some pages back (pp. 38ff.). In the 
word-marking experiment Gs. made his lowest gain on s-p words 
(15%)^^ when the material was similar to that used in the 
training, while on material different from the training he 
averaged 30% — in spite of the fact that the per cent form of 
expression tended to reduce the inequalities among initial 
capacities. Upon inspecting the table^*^ we note that his initial 
capacity was about twice as high as in the other tests. Intro- 
spections state that his method of marking s-p words in the 
first test was radically different from his method of marking 
other words :^^ he took p for the cue and ran his eye along under 
the line for the projecting stem; he took advantage of the form 
of the letter to turn from hunting letters to hunting a certain 
rare but easily recognizable projection. In the second test he 
hunted for letters. His low gain in marking out l-o words 
from manuscript pages was due to a similar change in process: 

^^Vid., Table I, (Appendix A., p. 259). 

^Vid., Table II, Plate I, (Appendix A., pp. 260, 261). 

" P. 38. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 69 

he sought above the hne for the loop of the /, to the first test. 
Cr.'s low gain on s-p words was owing to the same cause. 

In the weight-estimating experiment, Cr.'s great loss on ob- 
jects outside the field was owing to greatly over-estimatmg 
the weights of two of the ten objects— a bottle of muscilage 
and a volume of the Psych. Rev.-^ He used in both tests on 
this series of objects, as a basis of judgment, a kinaesthetic 
image of a 1000-gram weight accidently handled some days 
before the first test, and it served more poorly for the second 
test since it was more vague, — a process very different from his 
estimation of the other series of objects. 

Large differences in an individual's results appear to be due 
to a radical change in processes and for that reason do not 
seem properly comparable with his other difference-scores — 
the scores in question do not measure the same kind of work. 
Whether great variation in initial scores of different reagents 
make them, for the same reason, non-comparable, remains for 
analyses of processes to determine; if they are non-comparable, 
no other statistical device is likely to prove more satisfactory 
in comparing them than the absolute or the per cent form. 

Evidently we need to know more about (a) the extent of 
variability in processes, with a single reagent and between dif- 
ferent reagents,23 who set themselves to the same objective task; 

=^ Table X, (Appendix A, p. 265). 

^Contributions to individual psychology show us that individuals may vary 
tremendously in their mental processes, vid. 

Binet et Jassey: fitude de psychologic sur les auteurs dramatiques. Annee 
Psych., 1895, 1:60-118. 

Binet et Henri: La psychologic individuelle. Annee Psych., 1895, 2:411-465. 

Toulouse : Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la superiorite 
intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. 1896. 

Oehrn: Experimentelle Studien zur Individualpsychologie. Psych. Arbeit- 
en., 1896, I :92-iSi. 

Binet: L'fitude experimentale de I'lntelligence. Paris. 1903. 

Sharp: Individual psychology: A study in psychological method. Am. 

Jr. Psych., 1899, 10:329-391- 
Whitley: An empirical study of certain tests for individual diflferences. 

Archives of Psych., 191 1, 3' No. 19. 

Also the studies which attack directly the problem of the Diagnosis of 
mental imagery (like those of Secor, Segal, and Fernald) or which make 



70 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(b) the causes of this variability; and (c) its effect upon the 
scores. We might then be able to determine more precisely 
how training affects the processes engaged in the training, how 
training-effect affects the test-capacities, and how these facts 
may be properly expressed in quantitative terms. 

To this task of qualitative analysis we set ourselves in the fol- 
lowing two experiments, and at the risk of tedium we report on 
both tests and training as fully as our introspective data permit. 



1. Experiment on Attention. (Variability in Mental Processes).' 



In order to give greater opportunity for variability and for 
afunctional relationship of processes to appear, it seemed desirable 
to extend more than is usual the variety of tests and training; 
the variability for the large number of tests and different kinds 
of training could be worked out in detail and thus furnish 
a basis for a critique of this type of experiment, while functional 
relationship, at the risk of not being found at all, might be 
detected where it is scarcely expected, thus revealing some new 
causes for general effect of training, both positive and negative. 

Fortunately there is an excellent opportunity for organizing 
a number of variously related tests into this standard type of 
experiment. In many of the discussions psychologists have at- 
tributed the general effect of special practice, in part, to training 
in attention. ^^ In the want, as yet, of any direct method of 



an analytical inspection of the memory process (like those of Kuhlmann, 
Gamble, Cohn, Sybel, Wreschner, and Miiller), as well as the early work in 
which the concept of "imagery types" was originated and developed (Fechner, 
Galton, and Charcot). 

" Performed during the year 1910-1911. 

^ Vid. Angell, J. R. : The doctrine of formal discipline in the light of the 
principles of general psychology. Ed. Rev., 1908, 36 :8. 

Aall : in review of Coover and Angell. Zeit. f. Psych., 1908, 48:303. 

Mijller : Zur Analyse der Gedachtnistatigkeit u.d. Vorstellungsverlaufes. 
Zeits. f. Psych., 1911. Erg. Bd. S. 244. Ebert und Meumann {op. cit. 205), 
Fracher {op. cit. 95), Sleight {op. cit. 442-3). Stumpf (Tonpsychologie, 
1:81). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 7^ 

measuring attention,^^ lies our opportunity. If attention can 
be measured at all,^^ and, in view of the fact that it is often 
practically gauged by casual observation, it seems reasonable to 
hope that it can, it must be measured by the product of such 
mental activities as are known to depend in the highest degree 
upon the attentive state. Such activities are sensitivity, sensible 
discrimination, reproduction, and voluntary activity ;^^ and a 
large number of fairly standard tests are at hand which may 
be used to measure them. 

If we get the initial capacity of a number of reagents in a 
number of these tests, we may be said to have obtained indirectly 
a cross-section of their initial capacity in attention. Then, if 
special training is given to some of them, and the tests are 
given to all of them again for a final measure of attention, our 
experiment will conform to the type usually employed in our 
field of investigation. 

Although we are for the moment assuming that attention 
is a simple and uniform state of consciousness, we may, perhaps, 
have to recognize (a) that there are phases or 'moments' of at- 
tention^^ such as degree of concentration, quickness of adapta- 
tion, and duration of concentration; and (b) that individuals 
might possess (i) dififerent types of attention,^^ such as broad or 
narrow spanned, alert or sluggish, visual or auditory or motor, 
or • (2) different types of consciousness,^*' such as dual or 
multi-level. 

We may then, provisionally, call this an experirnent on atten- 
tion; our chief aim being to learn the extent and causes of 
variability in processes engaged in tests and training of widely 
different kinds, incidentally, to trace through introspective 

^^In 1893 Kiilpe wrote: "The discovery of a reliable measure of the at- 
tention would appear to be one of the most important problems that await 
solution by the experimental psychology of the future." (Outlines of Psy- 
chology. 19CI. Sec. 73.2). And in 1908 Titchener said: "The discovery 
has not yet been made" (Lectures on the Elementary psychology of feeling 
and attention. 1908, p. 276) which still remains true. 

-"For present methods of measuring attention see Titchener (ibid. 276ff), 
and Pillsbury (Attention, ch. VI.). 

=" Vid. Kiilpe : op cit. Sec. 72,. 

^* Chase: Some aspects of the attention problem. Fed. Sem., 1909, 16:281. 

^McComas: Some types of attention. Fsych. Rev. Mon., 191 1, No. 55 '-SS- 

^"Geissler: The measurement of attention. Am. Jr. Psych., 1909, 20:473fi. 



72 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

analysis the functional relationship between sets of processes 
varying more or less from the training in kind, when applied 
to tests varying more or less from the training in material; 
and in case we get sufficient data which may be justly compared, 
we may be able to determine whether improved attention is a 
cause of general effect of special practice. 

a. The Tests 

The following tests^^ were chosen because of their dependence 
upon attention : 

I. Reaction 

1. Simple sensory to sound (50) i 

2. Compound 

a. With discrimination 

( 1 ) Marking out small a's ( 100) 2 

(2) Marking out o's ( 100) 3 

b. With discrimination and choice 

( 1 ) Card-sorting (200) 4 

(2) Typewriter-reaction (200) 5 

(3) Controlled reaction (50) 6 

II. Sensible discrimination of sounds (90) 7 

III. Reproduction 

I. Unequivocal (Rote memory) 

a. Successive presentation 

(i) Memory of sound intensities (50) 8 

(2) Memory of consonants (50) 9 

(3) Memory of Arabic numerals (50) 10 

(4) Memory of visual signs (10) 11 

(5) Memory of associated pairs (50) 12 

b. Simultaneous presentation 

(i) Learning 12-letter-rectangles 

(a) Free (10) 13 

(b) With distraction (10) 14 

2. Equivocal — ^Word-completion (10) 15 

3. Free — 2-minute trains of ideas (3) 16 

IV. Extensive threshold of visual attention 

1. Free (15) 17 

2. With distraction (10) 18 

V. Maximum voluntary activity — tapping (5 30") 19 



(The figures in parenthesis indicate the number of reactions, memory units, 
or experiments, in the test.) 

^ How these tests are related, in method or material, both to laboratory 
work and to standard mental tests, is indicated by some representative bibli- 
ography given with the discussion of Test Results (pp. io6ff.). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 73 

These tests were taken by lo reagents, 8 of whom took train- 
ing between the first and final series which were separated by 
an interval of 55 days. The first series of tests occupied 12 
days during a period of 36 days; the second, or final, 10 days 
during a period of 21 days. Each pair of tests was separated 
by an interval of about 66 days. 

The pairs of tests were also taken by two reagents of a group 
of 21 control reagents. There were thus two sets of control 
reagents: The two who took all the tests, and the 21 each 
df whom took only one pair or a few pairs of tests. 

The conditions of the final tests were as nearly identical 
with those of the first as circumstances permitted. The material 
was also identical with the exception of the Tests 4 and 5, in 
which the orders of the symbols were changed to avoid learn- 
ing sequences of reactions. 

Of the reagents who took training, 7 had training in advanced 
psychological laboratory work; i had no training. Of the first 
group of control reagents (2), i had training. Of the second 
group (21), one was taking elementary laboratory work; the 
others were in a class of general psychology. The students of 
this second group represented nine departments in the university ; 
there were two graduates, eight seniors, five juniors, and six 
sophomores. On the whole they ranked younger than the other 
two groups, 

b. The Training 

During the 55-day interval between the tests, two reagents 
(Mn., Le.) took training 18 days on Test 17; 25 12-letter-rect- 
angles were presented daily, making in all 450 experiments each. 
Two reagents (Rt. and SI.) took training 18 days on Test 13; 
20 i2-letter-rectangles were presented daily, aggregating 360 
experiments each. One reagent (Ly.) took training in simple 
reaction to sound for 11 days, iioo reactions in all. (Le., who 
took training on test 17, also took training in this simple 
reaction to the extent of about 500 reactions). Two reagents 
(He., Cr.) took training on memory schemes for about 14 days. 



74 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

And one reagent (Al.) took training on Test 17 for 8 days, 
almost consecutive, to the extent of 200 experiments. 

In the training as in the tests introspections were written or 
dictated. 

c. Apparatus and Procedure 
(i) Reaction to Sound 

For simple reaction to sound, the Morse key (set at a tension 
of 100 grams, and an amplitude at the button of 3 mm.) was 
released by raising the index finger of the right hand. The 
reagent was instructed to lay the arm and hand on the table 
forming a hand-rest by folding in the fingers and extending the 
thumb and to give a stimulus-direction to attention. No ap- 
paratus except the key was visible to the reagent, the Wundtian 
sound-hammer^^ for presenting the stimulus being located a 
meter to the right and back of his head. The whirr of the 
chronoscope could be heard from the adjoining room and acted 
as a second signal. A "ready" signal was called at irregular 
intervals from two to five seconds before the stimulus was 
given. After reaction the reagent noted introspections and 
called "ready" for the next experiment; he was practiced before 
the experiment and the first three reaction-times of the first 
daily series, and the first reaction-time of the other series, were 
discarded. The Hipp chronoscope was tested daily with a 
fall-hammer^^ and its MV. found to be less than 1.5 sigma. 
Twenty valid reactions were taken on the first day; 30 on the 
second. 

For each series of 10 reactions were found the (a) arithme- 
tical mean, (b) probable error, (c) standard deviation, (d) PE 
of the standard deviation, and (e) coefficient of variation,^^ be- 
sides the (f) MV. and the (g) relative variation.^^ These 
were averaged for the five series of the test. Inspection showed, 
however, that owing to the increased sensitiveness of those 

^Illustrated in Wundt : Grundziige der Psysiol. Psych (5 te Auf.), 111:503. 

^ Illustrated, ibid., S. 397. 

^Vid. Titchener: Experimental Psych., Vol. II, Pt. II, p. 361. 

'^Vid. ibid. Pt. I, p. 181. r.v.=MV.xioo/M. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 75 

measures which rest upon the square of the deviations from the 
mean, over the MV. and the r.v., for occasional large deviations 
(yet not sufficiently large to discard), ^^ the former possessed 
no advantage over the latter which alone were consequently 
retained. 

(2) Marking OtU a's 

The reagent was instructed to mark out all the small a's be- 
tween the pen marks across a printed page. The material 
consisted of page 12 of Horace Davis' Phi Beta Kappa address 
on Vocational Training, delivered at Stanford University, May 8, 
1909. Between lines 2 and 30, inclusive, there are 100 small 
a's. The page was placed before the reagent right side up, 
covered with a screen which was removed at the moment the 
stop-watch was started for timing the test. Introspections were 
written after the test. 

The Efficiency Index was computed according to Whipple's 
formula. ^'^ Since no letters were wrongly crossed out, the 
Efficiency Index became the "time per 100 reactions." 

(3) Marking Out o's 

Page 13 of the same material as above was used for marking 
out small o's, of which there are 100 between lines i and 30 in- 
clusive. The page was placed before the reagent inverted. 
Further procedure as above. 

Tests 2. and 3. were taken in a single sitting. 

(4) Card-Sorting 

A Jastrow^* cabinet of six compartments, and four packs of 
50 cards (6 x8.5 cm.) were used for card-sorting. The cards 
were not glazed but were smooth and fairly stiff. In a central 
position at one end they bore a printed device (14 mm. in 

■^ Times with deviations greater than 4xMV. were discarded. 

"Whipple's Manual (ist ed.). 260!. E=T/A, A=c-w/c+o, where T=time, 
A=accuracy, c=letters crossed out, w=letters wrongly crossed, o=a's omitted. 

^Jastrow: A sorting apparatus for the study of reaction times. Psych. 
Rev., 1898, 5 :279ff. 



yd JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

diameter), ^^ chosen with the design of prohibiting verbal classi- 
fication, which was turned thru o°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 270°, and 
315°, to make the six classes of cards to be discriminated. The 
labels on the compartments were so arranged as to avoid easy 
classification. After reading typewritten instructions^*^ the 
reagent took a standing position at the cabinet, informed the ex- 
perimenter that he was ready, and started with the experimenter's 
signal "go." The time of each pack was taken with a stop-watch. 
Introspections were written after each pack. Two packs were 
sorted on one day, the remaining two on another. 

Efficiency consisted of the average time for the four packs in 
each test. The errors were very few and were fairly constant 
in each reagent's work. 

( 5 ) Typewriter-Reaction 

Reactions were made with the first two fingers of the two hands 
to the four letters a, t, e, n, as they appeared automatically through 
a screen on the (Blickensderfer) typewriter. Reaction to one 
letter brought the next into view. The four series were com- 
posed of 50 letters each, so arranged that each letter preceded 
and succeeded itself and each other about equally often.^^ 
Opportunity was given for writing introspections after the 
2d and 4th series. The typewriter was connected in circuit 
with a marker which recorded the reactions, upon a smoked 
drum, beside a synchronous seconds-record furnished electrically 
by the laboratory clock. 

Efficiency was calculated from the kymograph records in 
seconds per series of 50 reactions. The average of the four 
records constituted the score of the test. Accuracy was checked 
by the record of reactions made by the typewriter, and since 
it was found to be uniformly high, it was not used to modify 
the time-score.^^ The four series of reactions were taken at a 
single sitting. 

^* See Appendix B, Figs, i and 2 (p. 288) for reproduction of device and 
arrangement of compartments in cabinet. 

** Appendix B, Fig. 3 (p. 288). 

"Appendix B, Fig. 4 (p. 289). 

"No reagent made more than 3 errors; the general average was 1.6 per 
series. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 77 

(6) Controlled Reaction 

Reaction was made with the first two fingers of the left 
hand the first three of the right hand on the typewriter. The 
respective fingers represented, from left to right, Poets, Phil- 
osophers, Statesmen, Scientists, and Musicians. Ten familiar 
names of each class^^ ^^j-e arranged into lo favorable series^* 
and were pronounced singly ^^ Time was taken with a stop- 
watch which was selected from a collection of lo for its favor- 
able action. A day or two before the experiment the complete 
list of names was read by classes to the reagent to determine 
whether any were unfamiliar, and, if so, to learn them; and 
before the experiment he was drilled upon the class-finger 
coordinations until he was sure that he knew them. Introspec- 
tions were written after the fifth and the last series. After the 
test, free reactions were taken to one-, two-, and three-syllabled 
names, in which all the five fingers were used, not in regular 
order, to determine how much variation in time might be owing 
to length of name.'*^" The test was taken in a single sitting. 

Efficiency was calculated in terms of time alone; the mean 
of the 50 reaction-times, and the mean for each class. 

(7) Sound Discrimination 

Nine intervals of intensity^'' (including D:=o) were given 
with a Wundtian sound-pendulum.^^ The upper and lower 
intervals could almost always be clearly cognized. The time 
interval between norm and variable was about three seconds, 
between pairs about 12 seconds, and between series of nine 

*• Appendix B, Fig. s (p. 289). 

** Appendix B, Fig. 6 (p. 289). 

*" With one exception : Cr. reacted as rapidly as possible to each half of the 
10 series, which was presented simultaneously to his vision. 

**The general averages for all reagents were: .69, .73, .81; making a 
difference of 0.12" between the shortest and longest names. Since the long 
names were distributed throughout all series, no reference to this is made in 
the discussion of results. 

*" Appendix B, Fig. 7a (p. 290). 

^'Illustrated in Wundt: Grundzuge d. Physiol. Psych., I:5ii. Ours is the 
single pendulum type. 



78 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

judgments 2.5 minutes. Ten series^^ constituted the test. 
Procedure was without knowledge and by the method of Right 
and Wrong cases. The reagent sat facing dark screens, with 
his back to the sound-pendulum which was about 5 meters 
distant; he recorded his judgment upon the intensity of the 
second sound (always the variable) by the use of symbols^^ 
signifying "greater," "less," "like," and "doubtful." Intro- 
spections were reached between series and after the test all of 
which occupied the hour. 

Efficiency was calculated in terms of Right judgments and 
the 'Difference Limen.' 

(8) Memory of Sounds 

Five series^ ^ of 10 sounds each were constructed with four 
easily distinguishable sounds (relative intensities: 0.12, 0.8, 2.1, 
5.)^^ produced on the sound pendulum. Members of a series 
succeeded each other at the rate of one second; an interval of 
2.5 minutes was given between series. The reagent sat 5 meters 
from the sound-pendulum with his back toward it, and recorded 
the sounds in terms of i, 2, 3, 4, in the order of their intensity. 
He was familiar with the sounds of the instrument since this 
test followed the test on Sensible discrimination, and in a pre- 
liminary practice he was drilled until he could name instantly 
any of the sounds produced in irregular order. The reagents 
recorded in ruled forms ; and wrote introspections between series 
and after the test.^^ 

Efficiency was calculated with Spearman's "Footrule for 
scoring the memory test. 



"53 



** Appendix B, Fig. 7b, (p. 290). 

^'Appendix B, Fig. 8, (p. 290). 

™ Appendix B, Fig. 9, (p. 290). 

°^ From Fechner: Psychophysik., I. S. 181. 

"^ This holds true for all the succeeding tests on memory. 

''Whipple's Manual (ist ed.), p. 367. d 

R = which gives a perfect 

(n=-i)/3 
score of i ; the score of a correctly placed letter in a series of 10 = 0.1. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 79 

(9) Memory of Consonants 

The consonants were printed by hand in capitals (12-14 "im. 
in height, strokes 5 mm. in breadth) and were clearly seen from 
the station of the reagent 5m. distant. The light entered the 
room through northern windows behind and above the reagents, 
and the Jastrow tachistoscope^^ was surrounded by black screens 
which concealed the experimenter and his manipulation of the 
apparatus. The test was composed of 5 series of 10 letters,^^ 
The letters were presented at the rate of one second, the series 
at the rate of two minutes. 

Spearman's "Foot-rule" was used for scoring. 

(10) Memory of Numerals 

The procedure was the same as above except that digits^^ were 
presented instead of consonants. 

(11) Memory of Visual Signs 

Procedure was the same as in No. 9 except that meaningless 

optical signs^'^ (suggested by and similar to those illustrated 

by Stratton)^^ were used instead of consonants, and the test 

consisted of a single series. The reagent reproduced by drawing. 

(12) Memory of Associated Pairs 
The letters of No. 9 and the digits of No. 10 were presented 
in pairs^^ at the rate of a pair a second, with the Jastrow 
tachistoscope ; after an interval of 60 seconds the series of 
letters was shown at the rate of a letter in three seconds during 
which time the reagent was required to record the digit asso- 
ciated with the letter. The five series were separated by 
intervals of 2.5 minutes. The reagents were especially instructed 
to depend upon association alone for reproduction. 

The scoring was made on the basis of o.i points for each 
correctly recorded digit. 

Tests No. 8 to No. 12 were usually given in two sittings, 

"Illustrated in Whipple's Manual (ist ed.), p. 365. 

''^Appendix B, Fig. loa (p. 290). * 

°* Appendix B, Fig. lob (p. 290). 

"Appendix B, Fig. 11 (p. 291). 

°' Stratton : Experimental psychology and its bearing upon culture, p. 29. 

■^ Appendix B, Fig. loc (p. 290). 



8o JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(13-14) Learning 12-Consonant-Rectangles 

Through a tachistoscope of the Wundtian type^° rectangular 
cards (10.2 x 15.3 cm.) bearing three horizontal rows of 4 con- 
sonants were exposed. The letters were printed in black ink 
with rubber type (21 mm. high), broad Roman rather than 
Gothic in style^^ (lightest strokes were 1.5 mm.; broadest 4mm. 
in width). The disposition of the reagents and apparatus, the 
condition of the light, etc., were the same as in the preceding 
memory tests. The letters were clear and distinct from the 
reagent's position. The time of the exposure was 10 seconds. 
It was preceded by a pre-signal, "Get ready for No. — ," given 
7 seconds, and a signal "ready" given 2 seconds before the 
screen was removed; it was succeeded by a free interval of 
10 seconds which was terminated by the signal "Now," when 
the reagents recorded in ruled forms. The test consisted of 
10 experiments, which came at the rate of 2.5 minutes. Intro- 
spections were written between experiments and after the test. 

In the test with distraction, the reagents were required to 
add eight digits called out by the experimenter at the rate of 
one a second, during the 10'' interval after the exposure, and to 
record the sum before beginning to record the letters. 

Records were scored according to the following values for 
a reproduced letter : 2 points for the correct line, i point for the 
correct column, making 3 points for a correctly placed letter. ^^ 

Tests No. 13, and 14 were given in a single sitting. 

(15) Word-Completion 
The reagent was furnished ruled paper, and a blotter to use 
as a screen. Then three separate columns of 10 consonants^^ 

*" Illustrated in Wundt : Grundziige der physiologischen Psychologic (ste 
Auf.) 1902, Bd. III., S. 334. 

®^ Appendix B, Fig. 12, (p. 291). 

*^ Although this method is not satisfactory, and Cohn {op. cit. S. i6iff.) and 
Segal (op. cit. S. 136) justly claim that errors demand separate treatment, 
if a single score is to be derived for a measure of reproduction, some arbitrary 
method must be accepted and this one combines favorable features in the 
methods of Winch (Br. Jr. Psych., 1:129) and Smith (Mind, N.S. 5:52). 
See Appendix C, (p. 295). 

"Appendix B, Fig. 13, (p. 291). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 8i 

each were dictated to him which he recorded and covered with 
his screen, leaving a space of about 4 cm. between the columns. 
He was then told that under his screen were ten lines of three 
letters each, and that upon signal he was required to remove 
his screen and to fill in letters anywhere in order to complete 
a word on each line. Time was taken with a stop-watch. In 
case the ten words were not completed within 5 minutes, the 
unfinished work was taken. 

(16) Trains of Ideas 

Reagents were instructed to begin immediately from the 
stimulus-word and write by word or phrase as many ideas as 
possible within the two minutes allowed them. Three stimulus 
words were given: horse, potato, flute. Connections were then 
explained and the ideas counted. 

Tests No. 15, and 16 were usually given in the same sitting 
with No. 2 and 3. 

(17-18) Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention 

The same apparatus and like material and procedure as in No. 
13 were used except the exposure was about o.i seconds (0.085''), 
the free interval between exposure and reproduction was 5 
seconds, and the rate of experiments was two minutes. The whole 
card fell within the angle of acute vision. 

In the test with distraction the 5'' interval after the presenta- 
tion of the card was used by the reagent for adding 4 digits 
pronounced at the rate of one a second. The sum was recorded 
before the letters. 

Tests 17 and 18 were taken within the hour. 

(19) Tapping 

The reagent tapped five series of 30" each, with intervening 
rests of 2.5 minutes. He used his right hand in a manner 
chosen after a preliminary practice; he was instructed to keep 
his method constant and to tap as rapidly as possible. The 
Morse key was sent at a tension of 50 grams, and an amplitude 
(at the button) of i mm. (approximately the adjustment pre- 
ferred by telegraph operators). Records of the tapping were 



82 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

taken on a kymograph beside a seconds-line furnished by the 
laboratory clock. 

The kymograph records were scored from the time-line and 
the taps counted for every interval of 5 seconds. Total 
efficiency was found by the average of the taps per series of 30 
seconds; the "Fatigue Index" was derived by dividing the 
average of the last five intervals of the first series by the num- 
ber of taps in the first interval. All procedure was according 
to Wells^^ except in the use of the right hand only. 

d. The Training Results 

According to the design of our investigation our chief con- 
cern is with analyses of processes, their changes during training, 
and the factors responsible for improvement. The amount of 
improvement in training, the probability of the attainment of 
maximal efficiency, what general conditions correlate with poor 
and good daily averages, and what special causes of variability 
affected the scores, are also noticed. 

(i) Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention 

These tachistoscopic practices consisted of 25 i/io-second 
exposures per day of cards (4"x6'') bearing 12 capital con- 
sonants (21 mm. high) (See Appendix B. Fig. 12, p. 291) 
printed with rubber stamps evenly in three rows. Reagents sat 
5 m. distant ; experimenter was concealed behind the apparatus 
which was screened in black. The record of the reagent was 
made in a ruled form and was begun five seconds after the 
exposure was made; in scoring, a letter was evaluated three 
points if correctly placed, two points if misplaced in the line, 
one point if it appeared anywhere else. Experiments took place 
at the rate of i 1/2 minutes. Introspections followed each 
experiment. 

Three reagents, Mn., Le., and AL, took the training, the first 
two upon three days of the week, the latter upon successive 
days, at the same hour of the day, and under as nearly constant 

" Wells : Normal performance in the tapping test. Am. Jr. Psych., 1908, 
19 :437ff. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 83 

conditions as possible. The extent of the training was re- 
spectively 18, 18, and 8, days; and the gain over the first day's 
average was respectively, 29%, 26%, and 29%. 

The practice-curves indicate that maximal efficiency had 
probably not been reached {vid. Appendix B. Fig. 14, p. 291). 
The day's work was not long enough to produce fatigue. 
Days of poor scores were days of poor control of attention, 
of discouragement, of thinking that maximum efficiency had 
been attained, of being bored by the experiment. Days of 
good scores were days of good attention, and the best days 
usually came after a week-end or a short vacation. 

The process varies considerably, even during a sitting, and, 
although many of the factors of variability will be found in 
the following descriptions of changes in processes during train- 
ing, some of them may be noticed here. 

The degree of attention may vary from 'slack' to "wide-eyed 
and breathless" (Al.). The presentation may occur just before, 
at, or just after, the crest of the rhythm of attention. The ex- 
tent of attention may be confined to a few letters, when they 
will be clear and the rest of the card may not be seen at all 
(Mn. 2 : 24) ; or it may cover the whole card in which case 
all imagery may be so vague as to effect a blank score, 
(Mn. 2: 13). In the intermediate cases the attitude toward the 
more vague content determines whether the interval after per- 
ception is given to rote repetition of the 'clear' letters or is 
given in part to 'maturing' vague letters. Variability arises in 
the effort to coordinate the latter two processes. 

The material for any reagent is not uniform : Some letters, 
such as form familiar initials or abbreviations, are 'significant' 
and may challenge apperceptive elaboration at the sacrifice of 
further perception, (Mn. 6: 11) ; or they may prove more facile 
in apprehension and more ready for recall, (Le. 15 : 16). Some 
letters are more difficult to name (Le. 2:16, 11:8) and some 
groups are particularly non-euphonious (Mn. 2,:y). 

Among other subtle causes of variation may be mentioned 
an inducted effect through rapport between the experimenter 
and reagent, of the experimenter's variable state of alertness. 



84 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

During Mn.'s nth and Le.'s 12th day the experimenter inten- 
tionally varied the manner in which he gave the two signals 
("Ready for No, — ," given seven seconds before, and "Ready," 
given two seconds before each exposure) according to three 
types, (a) sharp, alert, (b) indifferent, (c) low, decisive. The 
averages of both reagents were lowest for the 'indifferent' 
type; Mn. averaged highest for the 'sharp,' and Le. for the 
'low, decisive' type. The experimenter chose the last type and 
was thereafter careful to keep his own condition of attention 
more constant. 

Since introspections, under the limitation of time, could not 
be complete, and the respective reagents differed in their selec- 
tion of factors, the manner in which processes changed through 
the training will be noted for each of the three reagents 
separately. 

Mn., during the habituation period of the first few days, 
changed from visual to a kinaesthetic retention because of the 
higher reproductive value of the latter. Only letters repeated 
by name were readily reproducible, and the period of exposure 
or the entertainment of the after-image was so brief as to 
limit naming to but a few letters: "I seemed to have the time 
in this case to repeat the (4) letters. I can remember the 
letters more readily by this process, but usually the time does 
not seem long enough for this" (ist day, 3d experiment). 

At the beginning, when scores were relatively low, attention 
was usually confined to the first line, or to a part of it, often 
leaving all the rest of the card unnoticed: ("All the (4) letters 
were clear, but I didn't seem to see the rest of the card," (2 :24) ). 
At this time a whole line produced a good score, but when the 
score was to become larger, the extent of the attention had to 
be increased, and consequently its direction changed. This 
change was facilitated by occasional good scores from relatively 
indistinct impressions resulting from chance failure to direct 
attention (i: 10); but a too diffuse attention was checked by 
an occasional blank score due to the imagery being too vague : 
"Attention on the whole card — can't recall a letter," (2:13). 
Attention by the 7th day came to be directed upon some other 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 8s 

than the top Hne (7:3), and by the 12th day, since it was 
found that scattered letters appeared most frequently above 
those in clearest vision, the lower part of the card was chosen, 
the 3d line being favored : "Find I cannot do well at the middle 
line," (12: 16). But these conscious changes in method corre- 
spond to 'rests' in the practice-curve, and were not for any 
length of time strictly adhered to. 

Not only did the spread of attention now include letters that 
at first could not be seen, but visual imagery was required to 
reproduce the additional letters, since the interval was taken 
up by the verbal repetition (13:7,15:3). This coordination 
of the two kinds of imagery holding their respective content 
was not at first very good and never did become efficient; the 
letters held in the visual imagery were prone to escape before 
they could be recorded (3,7:17,15:5) although they some- 
times returned (5:14). 

Associations of letters with familiar abbreviations, initials, 
names, words, etc. were not much used. Introspection notes no 
more than one case (2 or 3 letters) on each of the following 
days: 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. But the last two days they 
promised to become prominent; on the 17th 11 letters were 
reproduced from them, and on the i8th 15 letters. During 
these days they merely supplanted verbal repetition of letter- 
names and did not contribute to the larger scores. But had 
training continued, they probably would have been coordinated 
with the verbal and visual imagery to the end of fixing more 
of the impression before it got away. 

The attitude toward the vague impressions changed and un- 
doubtedly contributed toward the rise in the curve. It was 
not until the second day that the five-second free interval before 
recording was used in part for developing or defining impres- 
sions; it was customarily used in merely repeating the names 
of the letters that had been clearly seen. On the 3d day vague 
imagery began to yield letters : "The first two letters were very 
distinct, but I do not know how I saw the last ones: When 
I was recording them, I felt them rather than had an image," 
(3:1); "During the interval I tried to recall the letters; and 



86 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

those recorded are the letters that came, although I have no 
visual image to prove that they are correct" (3:6). But on 
the 5th day uncertified material was accepted with caution: 
"J (a clear letter) always seems associated with L for some 
reason, and the L forced itself [properly] into the record" 
(5: 20). By the 9th day, however, this material was regularly 
given a chance, which was almost always warranted by the 
score. The following will show the character of the material: 

7 : 8 "The impression of the three letters seemed very indis- 
tinct, but during the interval they seemed to take a definite 
form." 

8:6 "P was particularly clear ; I do not know how I got S 
for I cannot remember seeing it especially." 

9:18"! remember only seeing V, but during the interval 
the rest of the line (3 letters) was completed." 

10:6 "When I repeated the letters, K and Z were the only 
decided ones ; but during the interval the others seemed to fall 
into place (2 letters)." 

11:4 "L and T were the only letters that were distinct. 
The others seemed to fall into place during the interval." 

12:8 "I do not think I saw the last two letters, but in 
some way they came to my mind during the interval while I 
was repeating the others." 

14: 10 'T did not see the D as the third letter, but something 
put it there during the interval." 

15:3 'T am not sure what the third letter was. When I 
repeated them I could get no sound in the third space; but 
visually it seemed to be F, although it does not seem to fit 
when I repeat them." (The first, second and fourth letters 
were clear. The third is often omitted by this reagent, and 
indeed also by others.) 

16:5 "I had no idea of the third letter. K came when I 
repeated them, so I recorded it." (Correct). 

16: II "C came as a feeling; seemed to see a rounded form." 
(Correct). 

17:8 'T got a vague idea of a number of letters, but R 
was the only clear one:" 4 others were correctly recalled and a 
P recorded in error for a B. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 87 

That this material was related to vague visual impression 
was indicated by an occasional error: "C and N came during 
the interval; N was especially insistent," (14:24). (Wrong — 
the two letters were G and V; similar forms). 

There is a fairly good correspondence between a favorable 
attitude toward the indefinite impressions and the rise in the 
curve. Improvement was largely due to the development of 
vague unrecognized material into correctly recorded letters.^^ 
While this development was in progress there were some ten- 
dencies working against good scores : Lines distinctly seen some- 
times failed to mature into letters, (8:25), and sometimes 
letters plainly seen failed to be named and could not be recalled 

(7:17)- 
Certain peculiarities of the individual consciousness or of the 

process had some effect upon the scores: Among them are: (a) 

the unfavorable effect of favorite or significant letters (M, X, 

C, Q,) (6: II, 7: 9, 10: 20, 4:6), through narrowing conscious- 

*°The "maturing" of a latent or subliminal impression, in tachistoscopic 
experimentation, has been observed by others : 

The distinction between the "recalled" and the "means" of recalling, insisted 
upon by Cohn (Beitrage zur Kenntniss der individuellen Verschiedenheiten des 
Gedachtnisses. Dritter Internationaller Kongress fiir Psychologie, in Miinchen, 
1896:456-458), involves a maturing of imagery; he says that the retained 
letter may be a visual image while the means to its recollection is an involun- 
tary image in an abstract connection (p. 457), and that when it is schematic, 
or incomplete, it often "matures" (erganzt sich) through reflection. 

Hylan (The distribution of attention. Psych. Rev. 1903, 10:398) found that 
"a special efifort to recognize an indistinct character would frequently cause it 
to mature into complete recognition before others w^hich were at first more 
distinct," and that sometimes the indistinct letter would "come floating into 
the mind as an afterthought when all had been given that could at first be re- 
membered." The impression of letters exposed serially (rapidly) could be 
held an appreciable length of time without recognizing a single letter, until each 
was recognized one at a time. 

Bergstrom (Effect of changes in the time variables in memorizing, together 
with some discussion of the technique of memory experimentation. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1907, 18:236) found that the rapid displacement of one impression by 
the next interferes greatly with the memorizing, and inferred that an uncon- 
scious organizing process (apperceiving or fixing) continues some time after 
the impression has been received, which is necessary for its permanence and 
revivability. 



88 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

ness to them alone; (b) the persistence of impressions from 
former experiments; (c) the difficulty of cognizing letters of 
similar form, or of naming and of reproducing non-euphonious 
groups of letters, (3:7); and (d) the shifting of letters to fill 
a space occupied by an unseen intermediate (usually the third) 
letter. The last was largely corrected during the training 
through increased power to develop letters from obscure 
imagery. 

The facts that the coordination of the two kinds of imagery 
(visual and kinaesthetic) was not yet perfected; that the co- 
ordination of associations with the imagery was just on the 
point of beginning ; and that the coordination of the reproducing 
and the recording processes was still defective, supports the 
objective indication of the practice-curve that training had not 
yet reached maximum efficiency. 

Le. changed direction of attention from the first line, when 
increasing score demanded more than four letters, to the middle 
line (7th day), and then to the blank space just above the middle 
line (13th day). These changes were made on the basis of the 
adequacy of chance variations from the usual method. Extent 
of attention changed from the first two letters of the first line 
to four; then this tendency to limit the range to clear impres- 
sions changed to include impressions of various lower grades 
of clearness. Intensity of attention varied from day to day 
and from experiment to experiment, but effort was made to 
keep it at maximum: "Find that fair (as distinguished from 
good) attention makes considerable difference; I see the card 
as well, but the letters are less clear, and fewer are noted"; 
and good scores are correlated with introspective report of good 
attention. 

Although extent and intensity of attention, or distribution 
and clearness, are supposed to vary inversely, there was during 
the training a development of the field of maximal clearness 
as well as the lower levels of clearness ; and there was a gradual 
transition from a one-level to at least a clearly eight-level or 
multi-level clearness of tachistoscopic impressions; the table 
below, which is made from introspective data, will illustrate: 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 89 

Table showing eight-level clearness 

The figures in the table represent the number of letters re- 
produced from a single exposure. The figures in the first line 
stand for the following headings : 

I. Day and Experiment 4. Fair 7. Strongly suggested 

A little vague 8. Suggested 

9. Unrecognized content 



2. Very clear 




5- 


A 1 


3. Clear 




6. 


Vaj 


I 


2 


3 


4 


1:3 




2 




1:5 


I 


2 




3:12 




2 


I 


14:2 




I 


3 


14:5 




2 


I 


14:16 








14:24 


2 






15:2 






5 


16:2 




5 




16:3 




3 




16:21 


2 






17:2 




4 




18:9 


I 


2 




18:11 




5 




18:13 




3 





I 

6 

2 I 

I 

I 

1 I 

2 I 
I 
2 

I 

2 I 



In this selection of introspections it is seen that each con- 
secutive level is distinguished from one or more other levels 
in some individual experiment. 

The fringe material gives rise to imagery all the way from 
(a) no recognition to (b) visual recall, recognition, and re- 
production of letters in their proper places; that is, apart from 
gradual extension of some degree of clearness into its field, 
there is on the van of this conquest an occasional 'maturing' 
of its material into correctly recorded letters : 

"Had idea of other lines but not enough for recognition." 

"Had strong idea of other lines but not enough for recog- 
nition." 

"Had idea of other letters but could not recall." 

"Saw lines but couldn't recognize letters." 

"Saw whole line and noted others as containing letters — in 
past experiments when one line was seen nothing of other 
lines was noted." 

"Other lines noted, a little vague to recall." 

"Other letters noticed, almost recognized." 

"Saw no letter clearly; all suggested by lines and made defi- 



90 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

nite by repeating during the interval; not sure of any." (Good 
score). 

"Saw lines, later recognized K." 

'Tartly seen and later recognized as S." 

"In interval named letters in line but did not decide that I 
had seen R (a fifth letter) until after recording line; then had 
vague visual image of R." "Added C after writing line, from 
image." 

"Image not determined until after line was recorded." 

Again, the suggestion may be definite without recognizing 
any material as imaged ; "No image, letter came with feeling 
of familiarity." 

The way in which the boundary of clearness is extended into 
the territory of the unrecognizable, may be illustrated by the 
advance beyond the capacity of the eleventh day to apprehend 
clearly the four letters in the line fixated : 

"Idea of other lines, but not enough for recognition." 

"Stronger idea of other lines; not enough for recognition." 

"Line clear, extra letter a little vague." 

"Line clear, extra letter clear." 

"Line clear, two extra letters vague." 

"Line clear, two extra letters clear." 

At first the extra letter comes as a maturing visual image, 
vaguely, then more clearly; then it is clear enough to be named 
and fixed kinaesthetically with the others. 

In the very first experiments Le. held her visual image during 
the 5-second interval after which she named and recorded the 
letters. Then she named the letters during the exposure, re- 
taining by repetition and recording from kinaesthetic imagery, 
occasionally receiving an extra letter from visual imagery later. 
But by the 6th day she gave up the moment of exposure to 
the vivid life of the after-image, to "Einpragung," and named 
the letters in the interval afterward; "Named from image one 
by one as would from card, but slowly." She customarily 
recorded from kinaesthetic imagery. During this "Einpragung" 
she 'felt' clear letters in her mouth, the vague letters, suggested 
by lines, being named for recognition afterward. If letters were 
not so clear, or formed non-euphonious groups the names were 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 9i 

repeated two or three times during the interval. The visual 
image of an outlying letter sometimes escaped during the pro- 
cess of naming the others; and when the letter was recalled 
more vividly for retention during the naming of the others 
the latter became doubtful owing to faulty coordination of the 
two processes. 

Certain peculiarities of the reagent's process affected the 
score: (i) She often, especially in dull mental condition, found 
it difficult to name the letters (2:11, 13, 14, 15); sometimes 
she was balked for several seconds (4:15, 5:11, 8:7); and 
sometimes she would make the best of the situation by miscall- 
ing: "Called Q 'H', holding a (corrective) visual image of Q," 
(4: 19). This difficulty was more prone to occur when Q, Y, 
or Z began the line fixated (11:8). An effect of the difficulty 
in naming was to confuse the order (5:8), in which case the 
letters were named in trial orders until the reagent was satisfied 
by a feeling of familiarity (4:11). 

(2) Certain combinations of letters flashed into significant 
groups which at first challenged attention to the exclusion of 
further perception, but later served readier apprehension; such 
were the initials of friends, silver-ware marks, etc. : J B, J D, 
T M, S K, L K, T B (Tuberculosis), SF (San Francisco), etc. 
W M were noticed to be similar in construction. 

(3) All through the training there was occasional self-con- 
sciousness in fixating (11:18) resulting in (a) more or less 
irregular phenomena, such as winking, shifting, or squinting 
the eyes, just at the moment of exposure, and (b) eye fatigue 
and strain (11 : 19, 14: 17). 

Al. used an essentially different method from the others; he 
endeavored to get the whole presentation, inhibiting the ten- 
dency to limit the area of attention to a smaller and clearer 
field. 

From the 'fringe' levels, letters appeared often through 
kinaesthetic-auditory imagery and were correctly recorded al- 
though they were not remembered as seen; they often matured 
in visual imagery, generally with doubtful position; and often 



^ JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

letters insinuated themselves correctly into the record because 
they "seem to belong there," neither 'cue' nor verifying imagery 
being accessible to consciousness. Perhaps the general method 
of attending intensely to the whole card favored 'fringe' 
phenomena. 

The fixing of letters during exposure, or while the after- 
image persisted, was effected by naming the letters; and kinaes- 
thetic imagery was the customary 'cue' for reproducing and 
recording; sometimes the imagery was supported by visual 
imagery, and sometimes additional letters were visually repro- 
duced and converted into kinaesthetic before recording. 

Sometimes a "curious rivalry" between the two kinds of 
imagery occurred with respect to what letter belonged to a 
certain position, in which case records customarily followed the 
stronger kinaesthetic-auditory. But in some cases the position 
was medial between the two letters. Again, a kinaesthetic-au- 
ditory C was corrected visually to Z. Certain assimilative effects 
evidently resulted from the rivalry of the imagery : J seems G 
when the latter was just diagonally below it. Again, this 
assimilative effect may involve only visual factors : M seems X 
when the latter was just above it. 

Mnemonics were avoided and very few associations involun- 
tarily occurred. 

Development consisted in more adequate control of the atten- 
tion during (a) apprehension, (b) fixing, and (c) reproducing 
periods, (a) On the second day the reagent recorded, "Have 
learned to regard the card as a whole; distinguish many more 
letters than at first, but cannot fix them;" and of the letters 
distinctly seen, three introspections of the second, third, and 
sixth day's record: "Saw more letters distinctly than ever be- 
fore," "Saw more letters, say six," "Saw more letters, say 
eight or nine." Particularly for the earlier part of the training, 
apprehension in its advance far out-distanced fixing and repro- 
duction, (b) More visual images were named and fixed, and 
(c) in reproduction the reagent ceased to distrust insistent, but 
not perceived, letters, as persisting from some former apprehen- 
sion, and became willing to give them a chance in the score. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 93 

Many letters, no doubt, through this change of attitude toward 
the 'fringe,' 'matured,' as is indicated above in connection with 
attention; at any rate the scores generally justified the record. 

Further and more direct evidence of the more efficient control 
of the attention, noticeable through lack of strain, is given in an 
introspection on the 7th day: "Attention as usual, 'open-eyed,' 
to take in whole card, but not breathless as formerly." 

Al.'s maximum daily average occurred on the 3d day (see 
Curve, Appendix B. Fig. 14, p. 291), and the question arises 
as to whether all the improvement of his training was made 
during the first three days of work, and therefore likely to lie 
in an habituation which lacks the general character requisite 
for transference. If there was further improvement it was 
such as failed to affect the scores. Were the same question 
to be put concerning Mn.'s training for the same length of time 
(8 days) the same hypothetical conclusion would result, for the 
first daily average to exceed her third was the ninth. Yet in 
the face of the gradual ascent of her practice curve up to the 
1 8th day, the probability of improvement on the days between 
the 3d and the 9th can scarcely be denied. 

In what then would Al.'s improvement beyond the 3d day 
consist ? 

Tabulation of letters recorded as doubtful indicates that the 
averages of the days following the 3d were made up more 
largely of 'fringe' letters and less clear letters; if we express 
in per cent of the average scores the amount contributed by 
'fringe' letters during the course of training, we get : for the 
1st and 26. days, 8% ; 3d and 4th days, 4.4% ; 5th and 6th days, 
20%; 7th and 8th days, 17%. 

The averages from which we have inferred corresponding 
capacity therefore represent, in part, disparate processes. And 
since the conquest of the 'fringe' content in consciousness was 
seen to be an essential part of progress in the cases of Mn. 
and Le. and since it has been taking place with Al. since the 
3d day, it seems more than probable that improvement has con- 
tinued throughout the training. This view is strengthened by 
the introspective notes clearly indicating increase of sensitivity, 



94 ' JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

and by the experience, common to all reagents, of confusion 
in reproduction of the distinct content through effort to mature 
further 'fringe' content. Advance has been made in appre- 
hension; training had not continued long enough to coordinate 
the part-processes sufficiently for reproduction to show the gain. 

For all of the reagents the effect of training was in the follow- 
ing points the same: (For Al., omit a, d, f, h) : 

(a) More letters were clearly seen, 

(b) More letters were distinctly seen in less clear imagery, 

(c) More 'fringe' material developed into letters, 

(d) There was more efficient cooperation of kinaesthetic and 
visual imagery for the purpose of recall, 

(e) There was less variability of attention, 

(f) There was more adequate distribution of the attention 
to the part-elements of the process, 

(g) There was greater ease, less strain, in perception, re- 
tention and reproduction, 

(h) There was more apperceptive and associative process in 
apprehension of letters, serving a fuller content and surer recall. 

(2) Learning 12-letter-Rectangles 

Rt. and SI. gained upon their jfiirst day's average 53% and 
42%, respectively, during their 18 days of training. Maximal 
efficiency had not yet been reached (see practice curves, Ap- 
pendix B. Fig. 15, p. 292). The daily work was not sufficient 
to show the influence of fatigue. 

Days of low scores were : after Easter vacation, when efficient 
coordination of part-processes had to be built up again, for 
there was a reversion to earlier processes; and days of poor 
attention. 

Rt. began learning regularly with the first line and proceeded 
as in reading. He got a strong visual impression and converted 
it into kinaesthetic-auditory imagery for retention and reproduc- 
tion, repeating it during the lo-second interval. Upon the first 
day he began to convert the stimulus immediately into kinaes- 
thetic-auditory imagery without reinforcing the visual impres- 
sion, and when visual imagery of letters revived after they were 
retained and reproduced by the Kin.-aud. imagery, it was deemed 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 95 

a hindrance. In case some letters were held visually after the 
screen had fallen they too were named and included in the 
repetition of kinaesthetic-auditory imagery. But when such a 
visually held letter was remote, in the third line, it was retained 
visually while repeating the other letters in kinaesthetic-auditory 
imagery (which by the end of the first day decreased in its 
auditory support) and was converted only upon recording. Up 
to near the end of the 2d day the few associations that occurred 
were also deemed a hindrance, for the letters were, like the 
earher visual letters, retained kinaesthetically : "Associations 
annoy me." But in a few experiments an association came 
in a convenient place, after six kinaesthetically retained letters, 
and its letters were not repeated during the interval but were 
recorded from the visually held association. This is, in brief, 
the way in which visual imagery in direct form, and association, 
grew into value as supplementary devices to the kinaesthetic rote 
method of learning, the coordination of which played so great 
a role in raising scores as training proceeded. 

The first appearance of the developed method was on the 
2d day (i6th experiment) when the first six letters were held 
kinaesthetically, the next two by associations (CP, chemically 
pure), and the next two visually; only the first six letters being 
repeated by rote during the lo-second interval before recording. 
In the first experiment of the 4th day this method recurred, 
the association being LB (pound). But it took the training 
of the 4th, 5th, and 6th days to make this the predominant 
method, which with favorable modifications gained in elasticity 
and value until the maximum scores were made. 

During the period of emergence of this method, of the three- 
fold content, a two-fold content was dominant (see Analysis 
Curves, Appendix B. Fig. 16, p. 292). After the third day 
it was a rare score that contained only kinaesthetically held 
letters, although 12 out of the 3d day's 20 were such. The 
independent visual images of letters were held side by side 
with the kinaesthetic, except that the kinaesthetic were being 
constantly repeated during the free interval, while the visual 
persisted from the first reinforced impression. During this 



96 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

development of the coordination of the two processes of reten- 
tion and recall, a secondary visual imagery emerged, weaker 
than the other and often accompanied by doubt as to its value. 
It was imagery persisting apparently in its own strength, not 
having been reinforced during perception; and it often came 
late, — after all other letters had been recorded. 

It was this last kind of visual imagery, strengthened and made 
more reproducible through training, which later became avail- 
able when associations could not be readily formed, to prevent 
the learning process from lapsing into the early two-fold form. 
Under favorable conditions six letters were as many as could 
be safely held kinaesthetically, and four visually (primary), 
which would give a score of 30 points, and some of the daily 
scores exceeded this. Since coordination of the three-fold pro- 
cess involving associations, which became dominant on the 7th 
day, had resulted in carrying out the two-fold process, in ex- 
periments in which associations were not found, before the 
interval of exposure closed, time for strengthening the secondary 
visual imagery was provided. 

In successful work therefore, the process became at least 
three-fold. On the loth day a four-fold process appeared several 
times, (letters held in kinaesthetic imagery, visual associations, 
primary reinforced visual imagery, and secondary visual 
imagery). 

The general method became elastic in recognizing favorable 
associations in other positions than in the two spaces following 
the 6th, to which they had heretofore been confined; i.e., the 
six letters to be learned by rote changed from the first six to 
any not available for associations. Three times on the i6th 
day associations fixed the first two letters, and through the 
later period of practice all spaces presented favorable 
associations. 

The character of the associations seems to be largely visual; 
the stimulus yielding a word in visual form. It seems doubtful 
if many are accompanied by meaning, or at least if the meaning 
is prominent as it would be if the associations were apperceptive ; 
the reagent calls them "visual" associations throughout. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 97 

Letters held in each kind of imagery sometimes escaped, and 
occasionally returned later in time for recording.^ 

The method of recording passed through a development. At 
first it followed the order of the letters on the card. Later, 
the visual imagery, which under low conditions of attention 
faded rapidly, was recorded first, then the kinaesthetic, then 
associations, and last the secondary visual. The order of re- 
cording followed the increasing reproductivity of the material, 
except for the secondary visual imagery. 

Some variable influences upon the score were apparent: 

(i) If attention was not good, 

(a) Naming for kinaesthetic images was retarded, 

(b) Visual imagery was weak, and 

(c) Possible associations escaped notice; 

(d) All imagery, especially visual, faded rapidly, and some- 

times escaped during the interval. 

(e) In recording, some of the imagery escaped, and the 

order of the letters recorded was confused. 

(2) Some material was harder than others to pronounce and 

retarded the process. 

(3) Unusual associations, especially at first, retarded the 

process. 

(4) Since forming associations became a prominent motive 

in the method, material difficult to associate decreased, 
and material furnishing easy associations increased the 
score. 
Improvement seems to consist in 

(a) Higher sensitivity for the visual material, since the 

secondary visual images developed, and moreover, 
into two grades of clearness. 

(b) Higher reproductivity of letter-names. 

(c) Coordinating kinaesthetic and visual processes, so as 

to develop from a two-fold to a four-fold content. 

(d) Greater facility in forming visual associations. 

(e) Greater facility in apportioning the letters on the card 

to the appropriate part-processes. 

(f) Better coordination of the recording process with the 

retaining process. 

(g) Better method in recording with respect to the vivid- 

ness of part-contents. 



98 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(h) Possibly an increase in liability of reproduction of all 

imagery, 
(i) Decrease in variability. 

SI. began learning by repeating the letters on the card in 
reading order. Upon the first day he attempted to visualize 
the lower row, middle row, or the top row, while he repeated 
by rote the other two rows which he intended to hold 
kinaesthetically ; occasionally he sought by tense staring while 
naming to have visual imagery support the kinaesthetic. In 
the 15th experiment of that day he hit upon an association: 
BROM (Laxative Bromo Quinine) and recorded LBRQ, and 
noted in his introspections that "It probably did not help me 
to remember." 

The next day he tried to fix all the letters by naming, and 
found it too much, losing, in that experiment, all but one line. 
He then began his later method by confining his rote mem- 
orizing (Kinaesthetic) to the eight letters of the first two lines 
and held as much as possible of the third in visual imagery. 
In a few cases the kinaesthetic imagery of the first two lines 
was supported by associations: JPN (Japan) and BHSR 
(Belshazzar) ; and again WMBR (Wamba). 

Upon the 3d day his visual imagery of the third row was 
assisted by associations (Z, last letter of the alphabet, and J 
his initial). Thus appeared the alternate form of his method. 
But it was not yet a conscious method, and was not much used 
until the 9th day from which time it was used to fix about as 
many letters in the third line as were reproduced visually. "Can 
repeat only names of first two rows so as to remember them; 
either have mnemonic for third row or visualize." A curious 
thing appears to have occurred during its emergence at that 
time, which seems rather an effect than a cause of its use. The 
visual imagery used during the preceding four days seemed to 
change to what was called in the discussion of Rt.'s results a 
'secondary' form {i.e., not reinforced during perception) or 
an apperceptive form involving alphabetic position, which re- 
lated it to a class of the associations available and used at first 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 99 

particularly for X and Z, as is shown by the prevalence of 
substitutions of near-lying letters, as H for J or K. The reagent 
repeatedly said he did not visualize, neither did he repeat, nor 
did he form those letters into associations — he "just remem- 
bered them." "Last letters written in lower row are remembered 
by gazing steadily at them and names are not pronounced 
neither are they visualized." He also records some letters from 
this field which he cannot account for: these are what I have 
called the 'secondary' visual form, when they came in the visual 
mode. Apparently one cause for this change in the character 
of his visual imagery is that as he gazes at them he is not so 
much intent upon sharp visualization as upon seeking mnemonic 
devices to fix them. 

Up to this time he had made three perfect scores by holding 
the lower row in visual imagery. From now on, all his perfect 
scores (22) with one exception were assisted by associations, 
the first three occurring on the 9th day. 

The following table shows the relative use of his three kinds 
of retention for the third row, the 'visualized' and the 'secondary' 
visual letters combined : 

Day No. of letters recorded from each 





Kin. 


Vis. 


Ass'ns 


I 


4 


I 





2 


2 


3 


I 


3 




II 


2 


4 




7 


8 


S 


5 


22 


6 


6 




10 


4 


7 




28 





8 




18 


8 


9 


9 


9 


18 


10 




18 


17 


II 




29 


17 


12 




15 


17 


13 




10 


18 


14 




12 


8 


IS 




20 


32 


16 




34 


II 


17 




16 


32 


18 




14 


34 



loo JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

By the ninth day his method was to gaze at the 3d row during 
the exposure seeking a mnemonic association or visuaHzing 
while he was repeating by rote the eight letters above held in 
peripheral vision. 

Conflict between the visual and kinaesthetic processes en- 
couraged the search for mnemonic aids. His visual imagery 
was very unstable and vanished upon slight provocation. If it 
was to persist, it had to be made as vivid as possible during 
the impression; but that took attention from the rote process 
with the result of losing some of the kinaesthetic letters, or of 
losing the rhythm and sequence, which led to transposed letters 
in the record; then again, if effort was put disproportionately 
upon the kinaesthetic process, the lower row would be lost. 

The associations were not used advantageously above the 3d 
line; in fact they were disturbing there. They often resulted 
in substitutions of other letters, indicating that the form of 
association was not visual, as in the case of Rt., but more 
apperceptive. Sometimes they were of a complex nature : MDKS 
was held by "M.D., Mark Keppel, Snell;" ZGJX, "between 
special letters ZX, George Jones." Sometimes letters in a well 
known combination would be absorbed in another more special 
but earlier one: PBDV gave Peabody, although since the com- 
bination had occurred before, "deo volente" had been common 
for DV. 

The visual imagery of letters seemed to be more easily held 
if they were accompanied by associated letters, and the process 
was often thus a three-part process : Kinaesthetic for 8 letters, 
associative for 2, visual for 2. 

A peculiarity of Sl.'s imagery was that as long as he held 
his eyes on the screen, after the exposure, the letters remained 
there; but as soon as he glanced down to the paper, they either 
vanished or took a position on his forehead where they were 
very unstable and were apt to escape while he was recording 
the kinaesthetic letters. It took special efifort to retain them. 

His other imagery was also quite unstable, for any inner 
distraction was fatal to it; upon one occasion he began record- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE loi 

ing with the wrong letter and almost lost the whole score. 
He tried to hold the imagery by keeping his body rigidly in 
the same position. Recording was an especial distraction. 

A development of the kinaesthetic process took place: At 
first he merely named letters "in his mind," then in a whisper, 
finally with very slight throat and tongue movement. The first 
was not vivid enough and the second was too slow. 

The variable influences upon the score recorded in the dis- 
cussion of Rt.'s training were present here also; except that 
No. 3 may be omitted and No. 4 made applicable to the 3d line 
only. 

Improvement seems to consist in 

(a) Coordination of visual, kinaesthetic, and associative 

processes. 

(b) Using incipient pronunciation with rote process. 

(c) Better at)perception of visual images. 

(d) Coordinating the recording and retention processes. 

(e) Making association a method. 

(f) Decrease of variability. 

It does not seem that sensitivity to visual imagery, or that 
reproductivity except as better effected through (b), was in- 
creased; and the method remained fairly mechanical. 

(3) Reaction to Sound 

Ly. did not greatly reduce her reaction time by her training 
of II days, 100 reactions per day, (1.4%). 

That there was a change in the process is indicated by the 
character of the practice curve : There was a drop down to the 
6th day, showing at that point over initial capacity a gain of 
19% ; but from then on there was a gradual rise to almost 
initial efficiency. 

If the ten reactions each of the 27 series, on the 100-gram 
tension of the key, are distributed and plotted (5 sigma to the 
plot) in three distribution curves of 90 cases each (correspond- 
ing curves, with 10 sigma to the plot, are shown in Appendix B., 
Fig. 18, p. 294), it is seen that the motor reactions with times 
around 100 sigma have fallen away, after the middle period; 



102 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

that the highest mode has shifted from 158 in the first period 
to 178 in the middle and last periods; that the chief block of 
reactions which came, in the first, between 130 and 170 sigma, 
has broadened in the middle to 180; and that the last curve is 
cut by a cleft at the point where the first has the highest mode, 
giving rise to two blocks: 130-155, 160-195. The median has 
moved from 159 to 160 and 165. 

The introspections throughout are headed "Sensorial"; at 
the same time, individual introspections note pressures, strains, 
and tensions in the fingers, hand and arm, and premonitory 
reactions indicate a motor direction of attention. Although the 
introspections are not full enough to determine definitely, yet 
there is some evidence that the process of reaction became less 
motor as practice continued, after the sixth day. It may be 
that as training proceeded the sensorial form was more nearly 
approached, yet the first considerable mode of the first curve, 
from 130-145, continued and broadened toward longer time, 
in the middle curve, has split in the last curve with the narrower 
mode at 130-135 and the broader at 140-155, whereas the 
former mode of 130-135 would seem to be the place for a 
practiced sensory time. The widening of this mode in the 
second curve, and the growth of a wide mode from 140-150 
in the last, seem to indicate the development of factors in the 
process of reaction which (a) shifted most of the 'sensorial' 
reactions to 140-150, and (b) gave rise to a more frequent 
type of reaction at 160-195, where the last curve has its largest 
block of reactions and the first curve is most serrated. Intro- 
spections do not make clear what those factors are; but they 
must be such as cause reactions to fall central upon 148 and 
178 sigma. 

The process at the beginning of practice was sometimes pure 
motor (90-110 sigma), often sensori-motor (i 10-120), very 
often sensory (130-140), and more often a complicated sensory 
(145-165). During training, the motor disappeared, the sensori- 
motor diminished, and the practiced sensory narrowed (130- 
135), the sensory (135-150) became more frequent, and the 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 103 

complicated sensory (160-195) most frequent. This develop- 
ment into longer time conforms with Bergemann's results on 
influence of practice on sensorial time.*^® 

There was a decrease in variability, which is usually taken 
to indicate improvement in attention, but it is still large (MV., 
13%), about 5% above practiced form (8% of the mean). 

(4) Memory Training 

He. and Cr. tested mnemonic devices for memory of figures, 
dates of events, and lists of words. 

Although the modern*''^ systems of mnemonics have the ad- 
vantage of the older^^ in that they rely upon the congruence 
rather than the incongruence of the supplied mnemonic word 
or phrase, they are open to two chief criticisms: (a) They add 
to the material to be memorized, and (b) the supplied mnemonic 
is likely to be replaced by a false one (He. lost the key-word 
"pass-key" in the mnemonic for Homer, by substituting "latch- 
key", which changed the date from 907 to 567). The chief 
advantage of mnemonics appears to lie in the better apperception 
of the data to be remembered, by reason of subjecting them to 
especial attention in order to determine that they are correctly 
represented in the key-word of the mnemonic. Since the 
natural relations in the data are obviously the more profitable 
to be scrutinized, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, 
if anywhere, only in the learning of dates, telephone numbers, 
street numbers, or other disconnected numbers. 

That great advantage is gained by inspecting and grouping 
numbers, not for the purpose of transposing them into mnemonic 
phrases, but for noting the relations subsisting between the re- 
spective groups, was shown by the correct reproduction of series 
of 24 digits after grouping them into three's and inspecting 
them just once, 

^'Wundt: Physiologische Psychologic, III:42i, (ste Auf.). 

'"E.g., Harvard College — Teach much — t-ch-m-ch — 1636. {Vid. James: 
Briefer Course in Psychology, p. 74; or Prin. of Psychology, vol. I, p. 669). 

^^ E.g., Xenophon — a-zang-for-fun might do damage with matches — m-tch-s 
—360. 



104 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

The principal object of the training, however, lay in the repe- 
tition of lists of words, in conformance with Loisette's^^ in- 
structions for the training of attention by "compelling the 
intellect into some particular channel and keeping it there," "by 
compelling the intellect to stay with the senses," through 
analysis of connections between words in a series and frequent 
rapid repetition with full concentration. He claimed to have 
made weak memories strong, and good ones better, by this 
method. 

The method involved (a) an attentive apprehension (auditory 
or visual) of a list of words, having a more or less obvious 
sequence, with the view of noting the relations between each 
two words, and (b) an immediate recall of the whole Hst after 
the single apprehension. Later, on succeeding days, the lists 
were to be repeated orally from memory, forwards and back- 
wards, as rapidly as possible, recalling clearly the relations 
between the words. Notes were taken of the time and errors. 
The reagents set for themselves three subsidiary aims: (a) 
to determine the advantage of scrutinizing the relations between 
the successive words, for reproduction after a single impres- 
sion, (b) to learn whether the initial stability of the particular 
connections remains relatively the same in successive repro- 
ductions, and (c) to learn if the liability'''" of recall remains 
the same in successive reproductions, as shown by the time to 
reproduce the series. 

The second list of 30 words began with : Building, dwelling- 
house, parlor, partridge, feathers, light, lighterman; the rela- 
tions between the words are : genus and species, species and 
genus, whole and part, partial identity in sound, whole and part, 
substance and attribute, partial identity in sound. The list was 
dictated to He. by Cr. at the rate of one word per second, and 
was reproduced orally by He. in 160 sec. and by Cr. in 58 sec. 
Three lists were learned and reproductions were made on nine 
days after March 3d, to April 14th. 

^ Loisette : Assimilative Memory, 1896, p. 20. 

'" For the special meanings of "liability" of reproduction, and "fidelity" of 
reproduction, vid. Kiilpe : Outlines of Psychology, p. 197. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 105 

The chief subsidiary results may be stated as follows : 

(a) Scrutinizing the words for relationships results in suc- 
cessive associations of continguity reinforced by a unity in mean- 
ing: i.e., in the "Pointer, oak, ax, steel, ore, mine," series, 
Pointer, oak, are not only together in consciousness as two 
words, but the pointer is visually or kinaesthetically imaged as 
an oak pointer; and oak, ax, are unified in an image appropriat- 
ing any suggested relation between them, as of cutting down 
the oak tree, or of fashioning the pointer; Building, dwelling, 
house, are imaged as separate buildings in a hamlet, bearing 
spatial relations to each other, and parlor and partridge are 
in the dwelling — they all constitute a simple 'complex'. In- 
centives for recall are thus doubly strong. The reagents were 
surprised that the process of reproduction after a single im- 
pression went off with so much facility and with so few errors. 

(b) Although certain parts of a series visualized or imaged 
in a 'complex', fitted into a story built up through the imagery 
suggested by the words at the first impression, seemed to be 
more difficult and to demand more attention, in subsequent re- 
productions, than other parts, this difficulty resulted in halting 
the rhythm of repetition rather than in errors. The errors 
were almost wholly omissions, occurring in almost any part 
of the series, but seldom recurring in subsequent reproductions. 
They are caused almost wholly by incentives of recall reaching 
beyond the next member in the series. Introspection indicates 
that incentives reach from one 'complex' to another so that 
the most important member in the next 'complex' comes into 
consciousess before all the members of the last and the beginning 
members of the next are recalled, and that this consciousness 
of direction gives confidence and facilitates repetition. In this 
way ground is covered from one 'complex' to another by neg- 
lecting some of the intervening members. The incentives of 
recall of the next word constantly vary in successive repetitions. 
To attain accuracy intense concentration seems necessary, unless 
the process is to become merely rote-repetition by the vocal 
organs, which throughout was guarded against under the in- 
junction of the training to "keep the intellect with the senses." 



io6 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(c) The liability of recall, as shown by the time taken to 
reproduce the whole series, fluctuates constantly from day to 
day, yet considerable practice-effect was shown by both reagents, 
which indicates that in general liability or recall increases under 
conditions of relatively few repetitions during a long interval 
of time. If a free interval before a subsequent reproduction 
is but two days, the liabiHty of recall is considerably increased, 
as shown by decrease in time; if four or five days, it is still 
increased, if 14 or 15 days, it is slightly decreased — about as 
much as it is increased after four or five days. 

The advantage of the use of mnemonic connections in learn- 
ing German-English vocabulary {e.g., mistrauen^ — miss — shy 
girl — shy — diffidence) was not definitely determined; although 
a list of vocabulary could be repeated with certainty after one 
perusal, that perusal took about as much time as equally efficient 
direct learning; and although the former has the advantage of 
the use of the logical memory, while the latter relies more upon 
sensory memory, its connections seem to drop away with the 
flight of time about as rapidly as sensory memory falls away. 

Concerning the principal object of the training, introspection 
says : "Takes intense concentration ; afterwards feel tense in 
the frontal regions." But beyond the feeling that attention was 
keenly experienced in the training, and therefore presumably 
improved, there is no quantitative evidence at hand to show 
that improvement was made. 

This training was not as regular nor as systematically con- 
trolled as the foregoing. 

e. The Test Results 

In the following discussion of test results we shall notice 
chiefly ( i ) the extent of variability in mental processes 
between different reagents who apply themselves to the same 
objective task,'^^ (2) the extent of variability in a single 

" Some of this variability will undoubtedly result from differences in 'type,' 
whatever that proves ultimately to be, but the following discussion takes no 
account of it : owing to the difficulty of diagnosing and adequately describing 
an individual's 'mental type,' since all individuals are probably mixed types 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 107 

reagent's processes while applying himself to the same objective 
task, and (3) the conditions which must be met for the scores 
to be comparable. (4) The causes of variability, so far as 
they appear, and (5) the effect of variability upon the scores, 
are not neglected. 

According to the form into which we have cast our tests 
and training, it must be remembered, the particular influence 
of training upon these tests which we are seeking is that of 
improved attention. The initial efficiencies of the first series 
of tests constitute a cross-section of the initial capacity of at- 
tention; the final series of tests gives the final capacity of 
attention. If the processes in the final test have changed essen- 
tially from those employed in the first test in some other way 
than may be attributable to better attention, if, for example, 
the method of work is different, then the difference between 
the two scores would represent something besides the change 
in attention, and could not be used. At best, such a difference- 
score could only indicate the advantage or disadvantage of doing 
the task in another way. Scores of the same reagent to be 
comparable must consequently represent similar processes; 
scores of different reagents to be comparable, we must assume, 
should also represent similar or at least equivalent processes, 
and score-differences, or per cent of change in eflSciency, to 
be comparable should be based on something near equal initial 
efficiency. 

When comparable, the difference-scores of the trained and 
control reagents will be inspected for transference of improved 
attention. 

The degree of analysis in the various tests is not uniform 
for the reason that the processes engaged in the tests varied 

which vary according to means of diagnosis (vid. Segal, op. cit. and Fernald 
op. cit.), only the following general and perhaps untrustworthy characteriza- 
tion of our reagents, based largely upon questionnaire replies (Wissler: op. 
cit. 8-9) supplemented by oral report, may be offered : 

Mn. Le. Rt. SI. Ly. He. Cr. Al. Ms. Wf. 

Visual Strong Strong Strong Weak Strong Fair Weak Fair Strong Weak 

Auditory Good Strong Weak(?) Weak Good Good Good Good Strong Weak 

Kinaesth. Good Strong Strong Weak Good Good Good Good Strong Weak 



io8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

greatly in complexity, and the introspections of the reagents 
consequently varied correspondingly in completeness; but effort 
is made to analyze the tests employing the less complex pro- 
cesses fully enough to serve our primary purpose and to con- 
tribute to the popular notion of the nature of 'mental tests.'^^ 
That the extent of variability may be adequately indicated, all 
the tests are subjected to analysis, — an analysis that is not 
merely a logical schematism, but an empirical construction built 
up from the introspections. 

( I ) Reaction to Sound 

Simple Reaction Time has been used in the study of Attention (Angell 
and Moore/ Binet^), in determining mental and physical correlations with 
children (Gilbert/) and with university students (Cattell/* Cattell and Far- 
rand/ Wissler"), in determining psychological norms of men and women 
(Thompson®), and in the study of individual psychology (Binet et Henri/ 
Henri*). The latter'" emphasize the value of the M.V., which has been 
suggester by Titchener" and Pillsbury^" as a possible measure of attention, 
and has been denominated by Buccola "the dynamometer of the attention."" 



^ Angell and Moore : Reaction Time : A study in Attention and Habit. 
Psych. Rev. 1896. 3 :245-3S8. 
^ Binet : Attention et Adaptation. Annee Psych. 1899. 6 -.276^. 

* Gilbert : Researches on the mental and physical development of school 
children. Studies from Yale Psych. Lab. 1894. 2 :8i. 

'"Cattell: Mental Tests and Measurements. Mind. 1890. N.S. 15:376. 

* Wissler : Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
No. 16. 1901. P. 7. 

^Cattell and Farrand: Physical and mental measurements of the students 
of Columbia University. Psych. Rev. 1896. 3 :639flf. 

^ Thompson : Psychological Norms in men and women. Univ. Chicago 
Contrib. to Phil. 1903. 4:8ff. 

'Binet et Henri: La psychologie individuelle. Annee Psych. 1895. 2:445. 

* Henri : fitude sur le travail psychique et physique. Annee Psychol. 1896. 
3 :24s. 

*" Also, Binet : A propos de la mesure de I'intelligence. Annee Psychol. 
1905. 11:69-82. 

'Titchener: Simple Reactions. Mind. 1895. N.S. 4:79; also. Lectures on 
the elementary psych, of feeling and attention. 1908. P. 280. 

^^ Pillsbury : Attention 1908. P. 89. 

" Euccola : La legge del tempo nei f enomeni del pensiero. Milano. 1883. 
P- 155; (Quoted by Oehrn : Experimentelle Studien zur Individualpsychologie. 
Psych. Arbeiten. 1896. 1:113)- 



" In order to allay any suspicion that our tests are not representative and 
are pecuHarly subject to variability in processes, a paragraph, with references, 
showing the relation they bear to other tests reported in the literature, is 
added to the discussion of the results of each test. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I09 

It is well known that intensity of attention lowers both the 
tirne^^ and the relative variation in simple reaction. But for 
averages to show this, they must not be influenced by other 
causes of variability : Health, 'Anlage,' habituation to external 
distraction, and the direction of the attention must remain 
uniform. The introspections indicate extraneous causes of 
variation : 

(a) Conditions of health, through good, dull, tired, nervous, 

etc. 

(b) 'Anlage', from interest to indifference, calm to anxious, 
natural to muscular or sensorial set of consciousness. 

(c) Process, as regards habituation to external distraction 
(such as noise, unaccustomed finger reaction, pressure on the 
key, temperature of the hands) ; as regards fluctuation of the 
attention, within the series, between muscular and sensory 
reaction. 

Another variable factor lies in the movement: In raising the 
finger, the extensor muscle must overcome the flexor, and owing 
to the balance between the tensions of these antagonistic muscles, 
the reaction movement is not simple but varies from a simple 
extensor reaction retarded by flexor tension, to an extensor 
reaction preceded by antagonistic flexor reaction which delays 
the reaction movement 40-50 sigma,"^^ and three types of this 
variable factor have been observed. ^^ 

Examination of the test averages and the distribution curves 
confirms and supplements the evidence of introspections. Clearly, 
the test averages cannot be handled recklessly. They cannot 
be compared at random for at least four good reasons : 

(a) The change in the direction of the attention within the 
series, as shown by a bifurcated distribution curve, and by a 
large mean variation, is compatible with good attention. The 
average of such a series might lie above or below that of a 
series obtained with an equal degree of attention, but where 
the direction of the attention remained constant : e.g.. The atten- 
tion of Le. may have been quite as good in the series giving an 

"Cattell: Phil. Stud. 3:329ff.; Pillsbury: Attention, 82; Kiilpe: Outlines, 

432. 

''* Smith, W. G. ; Antagonistic Reactions. Mind, 1903, 12 :47-58. 

"Judd, McAllister, and Steele: Mon. Supp. Psych. Rev., No. 29, pp. I4iflf. 



no JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

average of 117.2 with a mean variation of 16.6, as in the series 
giving 136.4 with a mean variation of 4.6; and it may have 
been no better. 

(b) Even when the direction of the attention is constant 
and the psychical process is about the same for the individual 
reagent, his results cannot be compared with those of another 
reagent whose process, as shown by a widely different average 
time, is essentially different, for the 'abbreviated' and the 'com- 
plete' forms are not merely different forms of the same act 
but are different acts,''^® and practice-effect is greater upon the 
'complete' than upon the 'abbreviated' type.'^''' 

(c) Test averages which include great practice-effect are not 
comparable with those which do not, for they are not so reliable 
a measure of efficiency. 

(d) Test averages of reagents showing widely different 
facility also are not comparable because the reagents cannot be 
assumed to be doing the same work. 

Were all of the variable influences to remain about the same 
in the final tests as they were in the first, and were the essential 
processes also to remain the same, for each reagent, then all 
the averages might be used in determining influence of the 
training interval. In so far as our results vary from this 
requirement, they have to be put aside. 

Distribution curves show changes in the essential processes 
in the final test, for the majority of the reagents : Le. from an 
automatic (95 sigma) and a muscular mode (i 10-135) to a 
sensory (140) ; SI. from a sensory (145) to an automatic (95) 
and two muscular modes (130, 115); Ly. from sensory (145- 
155) to automatic (100-125); Cr. from muscular (111-120) to 
sensori-motor (130) ; Ms. from less to more automatic (94-100) 
and muscular (125-130); Ct. to less automatic (90-105) and 
to more motor-sensory (144-150). 

The reagents differed greatly in initial efficiency (ranging 
from 1 16.0 to 186.1), and fall, in that respect, into four groups 
about the following averages: 115, 130, 155, 185. 

" Angell and Moore : Reaction Time. Psych. Rev., 1896, 3 1245. 
"Wundt: Physiologische Psychologic, 1903 (ste Auf), 3:419. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE iii 

The per cents of change in the final test from the first, for 
the reagents whose scores are fairly comparable, are: 

Trained ist ControP 2d Control 

Group 2 Mn. -4.3 PE 4.38 Wf. -0.15 PE 3.40 
He. 5-8 PE 5.62 

3 Rt. -17.0 PE 6.05 

4 Rr. -6.7 PE 20. 

And these figures are not entirely free from other causes of 
variation besides change in processes : Those of Rt. and Rr. 
are too great because of the large practice-effect in their first 
test (Rt. 80 sigma, Rr. 40). The loss of He. resulted from the 
fact that his first test was taken in practiced form, just after 
long practice in another experiment. Wf.'s decrease of time 
should have been more, for at the beginning of his final test 
he was "rather fatigued," and for the latter part "somewhat 
nervous," and his first test was taken while still in practiced 
form from preceding experimentation. 

The absolute difference for Mn. is a third larger than the 
probable error, for Rt. three times as large, for He. a half 
larger, for Wf. and Rr. much less. 

In concluding our comi)arison we can only consider it possible 
that Mn. and Rt. have transferred some improvement to this 
test: Mn. from tachistoscopic training, and Rt. from a slight 
practice in simple reaction to visual stimuli if not from his train- 
ing in Learning 12-letter-rectangles. 

Nor with the averages for variability are the results more 
decisive; yet, as was noted above, they are recommended as 
measures of attention. This would be true, no doubt, if the 
measure is to include steadiness of direction as well as of intensity 
of attention, as was suggested by Whipple.'^*^ Yet, were the 
direction of the attention constant, it is not obvious that a 
given amount of variability from a 'sensorial' average is just 
equivalent to the same amount of variability from a 'muscular' 

'^The ist Control reagents are those who took all the tests; the 2d Control, 
those who took but one pair or a few pairs of tests. 

"Whipple: Reaction Times as a test of Mental Ability. Am. Jr. Psych., 
1904, 15:496. 



112 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

average, even when both averages are made by the same 
reagent f^ much less when made by different reagents. On these 
grounds then, the variation averages of all those who changed 
in the form of their reaction, in the final test, must be disregarded, 
which leaves the following: 

2d Control 





Trained 




1st Control 




MV 


r.v. 


MV r.v. 


Group 2 


Mn. -4.7 


-5-1 


Wf. 2.7 1.9 




He. 


-0.9 




Group 3 


Rt. -1.7 


0.9 




Group 4 









Rr. -10.8 -3.8 

The r.v. = MV/M x 100,^^ and makes the figures somewhat 
more comparable than without the reduction. 

Variation in initial relative variability ranged from 8.0 to 
18.8. The increase of Wf. is due in part to his low variation 
in the first test, taken when he was in practiced form, and in 
part to nervousness and exhaustion in the final; the decrease 
of Mn. and Rr. is principally due to better habituation to ex- 
perimental conditions, Mn. possibly bringing some advantage 
from her training with the tachistoscope. Part of Rr.'s great 
decrease must be attributed to his extreme nervousness in the 
first test (his first Avg. MV was 45.9, while Mn.'s was 17.5). 

It is evident that in the reaction-time experiment the reagent 
must, as Wundt claims, be "thoroughly practiced in the tech- 
nique," or "there can be no hope of obtaining reliable results f^^ 
and that lack of expertness in introspection makes it difficult 
to group the processes according to kind, so that they may be 
measured and their measurements justly compared. It is 
claimed that some reagents are so incapable of control of the 
direction of their attention that they cannot be used in the ex- 
periment.^^ As to the effect of practice on variability, it has 
been shown under certain conditions to increase it.^* 

'" Vid. Alechsieff : Phil. Stud., 1900, 16 :24. 

*^ Titchener : Experimental Psychology, 1905, II, I:i82. 

** Wundt: Vorlesungen, 1911 (ste Auf.), S 312. 

*" Lange : Phil. Stud., 1888, 4 1479. 

** Angell and Moore : 'Reaction Time, Psych. Rev., 1896, 3 :24S-2S8. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 113 



(2) Marking Out Small 2,'s 

The discriminative reaction of "Cancellation" was commended by Pillsbury* 
as probably the best test of the positive type for measuring attention. It has 
been recommended and used for this purpose in almost all of the important 
studies in individual psychology (Binet et Henri,^ Henri,* Toulouse/ Oehrn,° 
Binet," Sharp,' Whitley,*) ; it has been used as a mental test in correlational 
studies (Cattell and Farrand,' Wissler,^" Brown,"), as a means of studying the* 
processes of recognition and discrimination (Bourdon," who originated the 
test), attention and adaptation (Binet"), fatigue (Ritter"), habit (Bourdon^^), 
distraction and habituation (Vogt'"), general practice effect upon like or re- 
lated processes (Thorndike and Woodworth," our own experiment on mark- 
ing out words, pp. 34ff), practice effect upon individual differences (Wells,^* 
HoUingworth") ; and it is included in Whipple's ManuaP with tests for "At- 
tention and Perception," where an historical and descriptive account of the 
test may be found. One letter or character may be crossed out, as the 
small a, (Bourdon," Binet et Henri,'' Toulouse," Sharp,' Whitley*) or more 
than one letter, as a, e, I, t, or a, e, d, r, s, etc., wherever they occur (Binet* " 
Ritter," Bourdon," Vogt," Brown,"), or words which contain given letters, 
as both e and r, may be crossed out (Thorndike and Woodworth" and our 
own experiment, pp. 34ff). The matter containing the letters to be cancelled 
may be ordinary printed text or printed mixed words, in a known or in an 
unknown language, printed pages from printer's "pi," small letters or capitals, 
pages of spaced or unspaced digits, etc. 



' Pillsbury : Attention. 1908. Pp. 84ff. 

' Binet et Henri : La psychologie individuelle. Annee Psych. 1895. 2 :446. 

^ Henri : fitude sur le Travail psychique et physique. Annee Psych. 1896. 

3:239. 

* Toulouse : Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la superiority 
intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. (Zola) 1896. P. 226. 

° Oehrn : Experimentelle studien zur Individualpsychologie. Psych. Arbei- 
ten. 1896. I :98. 

' Binet : L'fitude experimentale de Tintelligence. Paris. 1903. Pp. 236ff. 

' Sharp : Individual psychology : A study in psychological method. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1899. 10 :356. 

* Whitley: An empirical study of certain tests for individual differences. 
Archives of Psychol. 1911. No. 19. 3:ii4- 

* Cattell and Farrand : Physical and mental measurements of the students 
of Columbia University. Psych. Rev. 1896. 3:641. 

^"Wissler: Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psych. Rev. Mon., 

No. 16. 1901. 3:7. 

"Brown: Some experimental results in correlation of mental abilities. Br. 
Jr. Psych. 1910. 3:297. 

" Bourdon : Observations comparatives sur la reconnaissance, la discrimina- 
tion, et I'association. Rev. Philos. 1895. 40:167. 

^* Binet: Attention et adaptation. Annee Psych. 1899. 6:364. 

" Ritter : Ermiidungsmessungen. Zeits. f . Psychol. 1900. 24 :424. 

"Bourdon: Recherches sur I'habitude. Annee Psychol. 1901. 8:330. 



114 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

Marking out small as from lines of English print, 93 mm. 
long, on a page containing 100 of them (see p. 75), is a fairly- 
simple task, but, as introspections show, may involve quite 
dissimilar processes : 

(a) Movement along the line may be like that in reading, 
may alternate in direction, may embrace more than one line 
at a time, may be interfered with or facilitated by following a 
pencil-point. 

(b) The essential process may be (i) a search for the form 
among all the letters, without a unit of material to search 
through, or with the word or the line as a unit, (2) a search for 
the sound-image of the letter by pronouncing the words in inner 
speech, (3) an incipient pronunciation of all the words with 
the reliance mainly upon the kinaesthetic image of the sounded 
letter, (4) a reading of the text and reacting upon the words 
known to contain a. 

(c) The main process may not be pure, and may be sup- 
plemented by (i) elimination of words and suffixes known not 
to contain a; (2) by activity of attention in peripheral vision 
so as to command a larger field, leading to inaccuracy in reach- 
ing too far forward and to accuracy in catching omitted letters 
in the lines above. 

(d) The process may be retarded by distractions such as 
(i) difficulty with the pen, (2) appeal of the context, (3) look- 
ing back to catch possible omissions, etc. 

These various processes may be employed singly, in combina- 
tion, or in succession by a single reagent in a single test; which 
is sufficient warning that the averages of such tests may not be 
used for comparison unless similarity of processes yielding them 
is assured.®^ 



"Vogt: Ueber Ablenkbarkeit und Gewohnungsfahigkeit. Psych. Arbeiten, 
1899-1901. 2--72,- 

" Thorndike and Woodworth : The influence of improvement in one mental 
function upon the efficiency of other functions. Psych. Rev. lOOi. 8:553. 

^ Wells : The relation of practice to individual differences. Am. Jr. Psych. 
1912. 22 -.77. 

" Hollingworth : Individual differences before, during, and after practice. 
Psych. Rev. 1914. 21 :3. 

"" Whipple : Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. Test, 26, pp. 254ff. 



*^ Peters (Auf merksamkeit und iReizschwelle : Versuch zur Messung der 
Aufmerksamkeitskonzentration. Archiv. f. ges. Psych. 1906. 8:391) thinks 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE "5 

Ly. used the visual cue; Mn., SI., and An. reacted to a by an 
auditory image of the word; Al., Le., He., and Wf., to the word 
as known to contain a, supplemented by the visual cue. Methods 
changed some, or were of mixed type, for all reagents during 
the test. For reagents who differed in kind of performance, the 
averages are not strictly comparable ; and for those whose process 
changed in its dominant elements, in their final test, the average 
difference-scores express something more than the effect of the 
training or the interval upon this test, and must be disregarded : 

Rt., in his final test, added to his method of attending to 
words as units and searching for the visual form, direct reaction 
to the word without search ; Cr. changed from the kinaesthetic- 
auditory cue to the visual cue ; Ms. from the visual cue, supported 
by a kinaesthetic-auditory image, to the word cue; CI., from 
marking words known to contain a, without notice of context, 
to reading the text; and Ly., from the word unit to reading 
the text. These changes in method are independent of the in- 
fluence of training in sustained attention, and were as often 
disadvantageous as advantageous. 

Initial efficiencies ranged from 113-282 seconds, and fall into 
six groups: 113, 129, 145, 165, 190, 280. 

The more comparable scores yield the following per cent of 
improvement (decrease in time of 100 reactions) in the final test: 





Trained 


1st Control 


2d Contr( 


Group I 
Group 3 


He. 9 


Wf. 10 




Group 4 


Le. 14 
SI. 9 






Group 5 


Mn. 29 
Al. 15 






Group 6 






An. 1 1.3 



It seems probable that the practice-effect of the test on itself is 
about 10% ; that it was benefited by the tachistoscopic training 
about 10% more, but that it was not benefited by training in 
reaction to sound. Learning 12-letter-rectangles, or by Memory 

the process so complex that it must be analyzed before any part of it can 
be subjected to measurement; for this reason he did not use this test. 



ii6 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Training, or by the other tests in the series. The quick per- 
ception of capitals in the tachistoscopic training presumably 
lowered sensitivity for visual impressions, or shortened cog- 
nition-time, which was available for more ready perception of 
small as in the text. 

(3) Marking Out Small o's 

Marking out small o's from an inverted page of English 
print containing 100 (see p. 75) of them, was intended to be 
a process somewhat free from the distraction of the context,^^ 
which attended the preceding test, and to offer opportunity 
for a still more simple process, not so capable of change. But 
introspections proved it to be also quite variable. 

(a) (As above). 

(b) The essential process may be i) a search through all 
the letters for the visual form, without a unit or with the word 
or the line unit, and with a purely visual image of the or the 
visual image strongly supported by an auditory or a kinaesthetic 
image of it; and the kinaesthetic image may be that of a) re- 
peated pronunciation of the name of the letter, b) breathing 
its sound continuously, or c) pen-movement in tracing its form; 
2) a search along the line for the only natural letter, since its 
form alone is not altered by inverting the page; 3) a blocking 
of the inverted page into units of a line, or a part of a line, 
and a 'spotting' of the letter that 'stands out' from its sur- 
roundings, (in which case, at moments when the central prepara- 
tion for its cognition was not perfected by the attention, the 

*° Other methods of avoiding the distraction of the text were noted above; 
such as, the use of text in unfamiliar language, of unspaced or "pied" ma- 
terial, etc. Woodworth and Wells (x'X.ssociation Tests. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
1911. V. 13, No. 5, pp. 24fif.), Wells {op. cit.), and Hollingworth {op. cit.), 
used digits, which appear to be much the best material yet proposed. The 
first two researches involved the cancellation of zero's, — a close approach to 
the present test. Woodworth and Wells (p. 28) note some of the irrelevant 
individual differences obvious to the experimenter upon examination of the 
checked page, or upon observation of the performance : variation in the man- 
ner of making the cancelling stroke, reversal of direction in inspection of the 
line, misunderstanding instructions as to amount to be checked over, etc. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE u? 

failed to "stick out in relief from the general blur of letters" 
and either had to be painstakingly searched for, or its omission 
risked, either case causing retardation or distraction). 

(c) The essential process may be supplemented by: i) re- 
acting to words recognized as containing o, 2) reading in- 
verted words in the search for the auditory or the kinaesthetic 
image, 3) the elimination, without search, of words or suffixes 
known not to contain 0. 

(d) The process may be retarded by peculiar distractions: i) 
Confusion with inverted c, 2) perseverence of tendency to react 
to a's (this test followed marking out a's),^'^ 3) looking back 
for omissions, 4) tendency to turn the head and eyes to read, 
5 ) recognition of inverted words. 

The following reagents changed their processes essentially in 
the final test : Mn. changed from the visual cue to word-reaction 
supplemented by looking "for the most natural letter"; Le. 
changed from one or two words as a unit, to a whole line; 
He. changed in part to word-reaction; Ms. from inverted image 
of the word to visual cue and reaction to small words. 

Among the other reagents the methods differed somewhat: 
Wf., Ly., and Al. used the visual cue and reacted to small words; 
Rt. skipped words and endings known not to contain 0; Cr. and 
SI., and possibly Gl. and An., used the visual cue simply. The 
more comparable results, because the methods are more nearly 
equivalent, range in initial efficiency from 125-380 seconds, and 
fall into four groups: 125, 190, 225, 380. Changes in efficiency 
are as follows, in per cent of improvement : 

Trained ist Control 2d Control 

Group I Cr. o 

Group 2 Al. 13 Wf. 17 

Rt. 13 

SI. 3 

Group 3 Ly. 4 GI. 4 

Group 4 An. 22.4 

Disregarding the results of the 2d Control reagent in Group 4, 

whose initial efficiency was but half that of Group 2, it appears 

*' Binet (Attention et adaptation, loc. cit.) found interference in changing 
from a, e, d, r, s to i, 0, I, j, t, (p. 370). 



ii8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

reasonable to expect about 5 fo improvement in practice-effect of 
the test itself; and perhaps 10% more as the result of training 
on the tachistoscope ; none from the other tests or training. Rt.'s 
gain is largely due to increased facility in recognizing small 
words and suffixes known not to contain and passing them 
by; there is no introspective evidence upon which to explain Wf.'s 
gain, but it is probably due, in part, to change in process. Those 
reagents who changed processes in the final test show loss more 
often than gain. 

(4) Card-Sorting 

Card-sorting, a series of reactions with the mental processes of discrimina- 
tion of the stimulus and the choice of the appropriate movement interpolated 
between stimulus and reaction, has been used to determine the influence of 
mental work upon rate of tapping (Dresslar^), to learn the conditions of 
mental activity (Bergstrom^), to investigate the influence of interference of 
associations upon memory (Bergstrom^) and upon the practice-effect in form- 
ing associations (Bergstrom'' and Brown **) to determine the effect of mental 
type on interference of motor habits (McMein and Washburn"), to test mental 
ability (Bagley,' Burt'), to test motor ability (Thompson*), and to study the 
learning process in relation to transference and interference (Kline and 
Owens'). In the last research ordinary playing cards were sorted into 52 
compartments, but usually the stimuli consist of letters (Bergstrom^), non- 
sense syllables (McMein and Washburn), words (Bergstrom^) pictures (Berg- 
strom*), or colors (Burt, Thompson, our own experiment on pp. 5off.) ; the 
number of compartments, 4 (McMein and Washburn, Thompson), 5 (Burt), 
6 (McMein and Washburn, and our own experiment, pp. soff.), 8 (AlcMein 
and Washburn), 10 (Bergstrom), 12 (McMein and Washburn); the packs con- 
tain 10 cards of each stimulus, except those of Bergstrom which contained 80 
cards, and our own (see pp. 75 f.) which contained 50. 



* Dresslar : Some influences which affect rapidity of voluntary movements. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1892. 4:5i4ff. 

* Bergstrom: Experimental study of some of the conditions of mental activ- 
ity. Am. Jr. Psych. 1893-4. 6:247. 

* Bergstrom : Experiments upon physiological memory by means of the in- 
terference of associations. Am. Jr. Psych. 1892-3. 5 :256ff. 

* Bergstrom: Relation of the interference to the practice effect of an asso- 
ciation. Am. Jr. Psych. 1893-4. 6:433ff. 

" Brown : Habit interference in sorting cards. Univ. Calif. Pub. in Psych. 
1914. Vol. I, No. 4. 

° McMein and Washburn : Effect of mental type on the interference of 
motor habits. Am. Jr. Psych. 1909. 20:282ff. 

•Bagley: On the correlation of mental and motor ability in school children. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1900-1. 12:195. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE II9 

Reaction with discrimination and choice is probably more vari- 
able in its processes, in the work of the same reagent as well 
as in the work of different reagents, than is simple reaction, 
since there is more psychial process interpolated between the 
stimulus and the movement, and variability in reaction experi- 
ments varies directly with the amount of interpolated process.*^ 
But the variability may be such that two scores still belong to 
the same kind of act as is not the case in simple reaction when 
one of them is of the muscular and the other is of the sensorial 
type. Yet even here the scores may also be incomparable because 
the acts are different in kind. 

Each pack of fifty cards in this experiment was made up of 

six symbols shown in the accompany- 
ing plate of the compartments accord- 
ing to which arrangement they were 
distributed (see Appendix B. Figs, i, 
2, p. 288). 

In the cognition of the smybol, the 
diameter was seen by Cr. and Wf. as classifying the cards into 
vertical, horizontal, and oblique, pairs; by others as merely 
forming the base of a pointer. The radius was accepted as a 
pointer by all, except Ly., who named the location of the filled 
half of the circle, and He., who named the location of the blank 
half, and was interpreted as pointing right or in, left or in, 
up or out, down or out, down-oblique or slant down, and up- 
oblique or slant up; Ly. and He. used the same terms of direc- 
tion. The cognition of the symbol was especially difficult for Ly. 
These terms of direction served to locate the three pairs on 
the cabinet, in the scheme shown above by the connecting lines, 




' Burt : Experimental tests on general intelligence. Br. Jr. Psych. 1909. 
3:136. 

* Thompson: Psychological norms in men and women. Univ. Chicago 
Contrib. to Phil. 1903. 4: No. i. 15. 

' Kline and Owens : Preliminary report of a study in the learning process, 
involving feeling tone, transference, and interference. Psych. Rev. 1913. 
20:2o6ff, 



^ Vid. Kiilpe: Outlines, 422; Oehrn : Psychol. Arbeiten, 1:131-2; Alechsieff: 
Phil. Stud. 16:24. 



120 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

for most of the reagents (Mn. Le. Rt. Ly. He. Cr. Wf. Dn.) 
before the first test was over; SI., Ms., and Fr., differed, in that 
the latter two had formed no scheme in the first test, and the 
former merely formed a mnemonic device to hold the two rows ; 
as, upper row has two radii East and one North, lower row has 
two West and one South (map directions), without further 
placing of either pairs or single cards. 

Individual variation in the process of distributing was con- 
siderable.^^ As is indicated above there were some marked dif- 
ferences in the main outlines of recognizing the symbols and 
of forming a scheme of the compartments. But even where 
the main outlines were similar, great variation obtained in the 
detail of the development in the course of the tests, so that, 
strictly speaking, no two averages are measurements of precisely 
the same mental processes. This variation consists in 

(a) Differences in the predominant imagery (verbal, visual, 
kinaesthetic) used in cognition of the symbol and in locating its 
compartment; in consequent variation in the number of steps 
in placing a single card (as, i — visual impression of the card, 
2' — verbal image accompanying its cognition, 3 — visual or verbal 
image of the compartment, 4 — kinaesthetic image of movement 
of arm to that compartent, 5 — visual impression of the compart- 
ment, 6 — impulse of movement; or, merely steps i, 3 and 6). 

(b) Varying dependency of the imagery used as a cue for 
the movement, upon a definite memorial scheme of the compart- 
ments, or upon random memorial elements of preceding sortings. 

(c) Relative adaptability of the scheme adopted (Sl.'s was 
particularly unwieldy). 

(d) Facility in perfecting the scheme. 

(e) Facility in superseding it with automatic coordinations. 

On account of these individual variations in the process of 
distributing, at any given point in the tests, not only did the 
schemes differ in detail, between the individual reagents, but they 
varied in degree of completion, resulting in varying amounts of 
primitive and mechanical matching of cards and labels, or in 
varying amounts of spontaneous sorting from perfected or 

'°C./. Individual variation reported by McMein and Washburn (op. cit 
p. 283). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 121 

from automatic coordinations. Some reagents (Mn. Dn. He. 
Cr. Wf.) developed a scheme early, and had the process partly 
automatic before the fourth pack of the first test was sorted; 
others (SI. Ms.) did not get a scheme well developed at all, 
or only at the end of the first test (Fr.). 

Many other individual variations in processes could be 
noticed; such as, (a) effect of sequence upon placing a card — 
one reagent prefers the succeeding card to belong to the same 
pair (Cr.); another prefers any other (Rt.) ; (b) relative 
preference for the three pairs — to one the oblique is easiest 
(Rt.), to another it is the hardest (Ly.), etc. 

Besides variation in the process, there were variations among 
the influences upon it : 

(a) Emotional — The sorting was vexing and disliked (Mn.), 
or disagreeable (He.), caused nausea and trembling (Ly.), or 
was interesting (Le., Wf.), or agreeable (Cr. SL), or indif- 
ferent (Rt.), and each effect contributed toward the attitude 
with which the reagent came to the experiment. 

(b) The anxiety for speed varied. 

(c) Physical causes — such as, "sticking of cards" (Mn.), 
or stiffness of cold hands (Wf.). 

(d) Conditions of health — Ly., He., Cr., were fatigued for 
their final test, and Wf. was nervous; and Rt. and Al. were 
less alert than usual. 

Since it is our interest to compare averages of tests separated 
by a long interval of training or of rest, still other variations 
are of great importance : Those resulting from the different 
degrees of reproduction, in the final test, of the schemes or of 
the coordinations formed in the first test. Some of the reagents 
(Ly., Al., Fr., Wf.) had them well in mind and could use 
them early in the final test; others (Le., Rt., SI., He., Cr.) had 
practically to begin anew, recovering the effects of their former 
experience in varying degrees and at varying points in the final 
tests; and with both classes there was variation in respect to 
further development, particularly on the /part of the latter, 
whose developments occasionally conflicted with returning de- 
tails of earlier processes. The combined practice of both tests 



122 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

was not sufficient to lead to automatic coordinations to any 
considerable degree, and all averages include practice-effect. 

The development of processes through practice in the tests 
may be illustrated by the following record from the in- 
trospections of Cr. : 

First Test 

Pack I. Matched cards with labels of the c^)mpartments 
continually. No compartments placed; pairs of symbols 
becoming distinguished. 

Pack 2. Some cards distributed from memory of position 
from distributions recently made; some from a developing 
scheme of the compartments, which is now drawn from memory 
(correctly) with some hesitation: The compartments are 
grouped in pairs (according to the dotted lines in the plate a 
few pages back) determined by the direction of the diameters: 
Pair I. (positions i and 6) Are verticles and occupy the opposite 
corners; radii in. Pair 2. (positions 2 and 4) Horizontals; 
oblique pair to the left; radii out. Pair 3, (positions 3 and 5) 
Obliques; oblique pair to the right; radii difficult, but such that 
I may classify "middles up" (referring to positions 2 and 5). 

Continuity of attention to the process and deliberately hold- 
ing the parts of the developing scheme constituted a persevering 
'anlage.' 

Pack. 3. Worked the scheme in about tenth the time; sorted 
some by exclusion; e.g., horizontals belong to compartments 2 
and 4; have a horizontal in hand, match with 4 and throw it 
into 2 without looking at the latter's label ; but the process 
is almost wholly matching. 

Pack 4. Scheme comes easier; though instead of working- 
outright without matching, it simply facilitates matching. 
About an eighth of the time it works adequately alone. 

Final introspection. Chief hindrance to the sorting is losing 
calm control of the partial application of the scheme and of 
its extension. This does not seem to depend so much upon 
the intensity of the attention (which the process seems to keep 
high) as upon its distribution so that the memorial factors are 
kept sufficiently in process, which is very difficult; matching 
is easier. Some strain, mental and in left hand. Rather 
.agreeable. (3 errors in the 200) , 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 123 

Final Test 

Pack I. Recognize symbols as familiar, but had to work 
up scheme of cabinet; some old classification returns, but new 
organization begins to supplement it: Pair i (positions i, 6) 
"In"; Pair 2 (positions 2, 4) "Up" and "down"; Pair 3. 
Contrary, "Down" and "up." But must glance at the cabinet 
continually to assure myself of correctness of compartment. 

Pack 2. Scheme did not develop so satisfactorily as it prom- 
ised; for at first the process did not require glancing at the 
case; then had to glance to avoid having to wait on memory, 
which resulted in confusion to the memorial element and a 
resort to matching. (Best principle would have been to depend 
upon memory, even at occasional loss of time, thus avoiding 
confusion and retaining scheme). Application of scheme isn't 
simple : sometimes mechanical conception of direction, some- 
times incipient naming according to scheme, sometimes simply 
matching. 

(The change in Pair 2. from "Outs" to "up" and "down" 
resulted in erroneous application of "in" to them, causing 2 
errors. ) 

Pack 3. (Tired; have had a wearing day.) Scheme in 
early part of series took on the following simplification: Pair i. 
(position I, 4) "in"; Pair 2. (positions 2, ^) "up"; Pair 3. 
(positions 3, 6) "down." But after working a short time it 
failed, and I was compelled to resort to matching. (Probably 
because of conflict with the old pairs, and lack of energ}^ in 
holding memorial elements firm). 

Pack 4. Scheme worked better; I depended upon it. Feel 
that I could make great headwaj^ in the next few packs, for 
the scheme is not fully mastered, but during this pack it de- 
veloped rapidly. Instead of the old incipient pronunciation of 
the class-word, the cards are placed by a more facile cue: 
kinaesthetic imagery of the meaning of the class-word. 

No consciousness of any influence of training (on memory 
schemes). 

In spite of all the degrees of variation between the dif- 
ferent reagents, the general experience was similar — reaction 
with discrimination and choice — and, since almost all reagents 
developed or used the same methods in the final test that they 
developed in the first, their results may, with reservations made 
obvious by the above discussion, be compared. The results of 



Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


He. 23 


Ms. ID 


Dn. 13 


Le. 12 






Mn. 22 






Rt. 15 






Ly. 21 






Cr. 22 






Al. 27 






SI. 4 







124 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

two reagents are disregarded: those of Wf. and Fr., control 
reagents because of Wf.'s "mental practice" on the test, and 
Fr.'s review of the compartments and the perfecting of a 
scheme, between tests, when they should have had no practice.^" 

Initial efficiencies ranged from 79.0-105.4 seconds per 50 
reactions, and they fall into four groups around averages of 
80, 87, 95, and 105 sec. 

The results of the reagents who maintained and developed 
their old methods, in per cent of decrease in time, are : 



Group I 

Group 2. 
Group 3. 



Group 4. 

The more important variations affecting these figures are*. 
Le. took her last half of the final test 14 days after the first 
half, which deprives it of the practice-effect shown by the other 
reagents who took their's two days after. The interval between 
the first and final tests was much shorter for Al, which no 
doubt contributed somewhat to his improvement; on the other 
hand he was less alert than in the first test. Rt. complained of 
a "muddy" attention in the final. Sl.'s scheme (map directions) 
was so unwieldy that in his final test his efficiency fell back 
to its initial position and he had to cover again the ground he 
had covered in his first test; this is one illustration of the fact 
that greater "room for improvement" cannot always be pre- 
dicated upon low initial capacity (his was the lowest in the 
series). ^*^° 

From the table it appears probable that 10% improvement 
may be expected in this test as a result of practice-effect upon 
itself ;^^ that 10% more was contributed by the training on other 
material. 

** Mental practice was shown by Johnson (Experiments on Motor Education. 
Studies from the Yale Psych. Lab. 1902. 10:87) to facilitate simple reaction 
to sound. 

*"' On this matter, see footnote 139, pp. 222-3. 

"This supposition is supported by the evidence afforded by the former 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 125 

The principal factors of improvement seem to be : 

(a) A more automatic use of the memorial elements of the 
old method from the beginning (Al., Ly.) or soon after the 
beginning (Mn., Le., Rt, He., Cr.) of the final test. 

(b) Some further development of the old scheme (Al., Cr.), 
although in this there was conflict between the new and old 
elements. 

(c) A readier apprehension of the symbol (Ly., for whom 
it had been particularly difficult. ) 

The manner in which training affected the test is a matter 
of hypothesis and might be offered as follows : 

The training on the tachistoscope heightened sensitivity for 
visual impressions, applicable to cognition of the cards; all the 
training in unequal degrees heightened reproductivity of 
imagery, applicable to the memorial elements of the scheme; 
the tachistoscopic training and the learning of 12-letter-rect- 
angles exercised coordination of part-processes, applicable to 
coordinating discrimination and reaction; the training on the 
memory schemes exercised the continuous attention and the 
reproduction of memorial elements, demanded in this test, and 
all training involved habituation to distraction which would be 
applicable here. 

A few applications of former experience may be noted as ex- 
amples of transference and spread of training: Mn. and Wf. 
were students of higher mathematics; they were assisted im- 
mediately to the formation of a scheme by reason of the per- 
ceived relations of the radii; in contrast to this, Le. did not 
notice until the fourth pack of her first test that the radius 
formed a right-angle with the diameter on the oblique pair of 
symbols, which relation was then of assistance to her. SI. 
brought his unwieldly scheme from the class-room. 



training in Card-Sorting (see Table XXV in Appendix A) ; in which, al- 
though it was probably benefited by preceding training in Typewriter-Reaction, 
the practice-effect of the first four packs upon the second four was, in per 
cent of improvement, 

CI. o Al. 17 Cr. 12 Bs. 5 

The second four packs were distributed the next day after the first four by 
CI. and AL, three days after by Cr., and in the same hour by Bs. AL, Cr., 
and Bs., are AL, Cr., and Ms. of the present experiment. 



126 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(5) Typewriter Reaction 

Typewriter-reaction (see p. 76) engages the same essential processes as 
card-sorting, its chief difference lying in more apparatus and in the necessary 
changes in forms of stimuli and movements. This form of reaction was used 
by Bair^ in the study of the practice curve and interference, and in our own 
experiment on "Reaction with Discrimination and Choice" (pp. 5off) ; it was 
selected as a type of mental work by Seashore^ for the convenient measure- 
ment of which he devised a special apparatus — The Psychergograph. 

This test involved but four coordinations of stimuli and reac- 
tions, and thus permitted a more rapid reaction, a slower 
practice-effect,^^ and a greater degree of automatization, by 
the end of the final test, than was possible in the card-sorting test. 

The order of the letters, from left to right, was a-t-e-n. The 
cognition of the letter as it appeared was not merely a per- 
ception of the letter, but an apperception of it as belonging to a 
certain position, to a certain key, or to a certain finger. This 
process varied considerably in its dominant imagery: 

(a) Visual purely (Rt., He., Cr,). 

(b) Sound image i) of the phonetic value, or 2) of the name 
of the letter. 

(c) Kinaesthetic image of the letter's sound or name (Le. 
Ly. Wf.) ; or of the movement of the eye toward its position 
(Wf.). 

(d) Combination of the above, usually accompanied by 
actual incipient movement of the vocal organs in pronouncing 
the sound or the name of the letter, or movement of the eye 
or arm and fingers in locating the letter. 

The placing of the letter necessary for carrying out its 
appropriate reaction usually involved a mechanism of some sort 
serviceable for keeping the order of the letters clearly in mind 
and the reaction to each ready. This also varied greatly : 

(a) Continual repetition, in inner speech, of the letters in 

^ Bair : The practice curve: A study in the formation of habits. Psych. 
Rev. Mon., 1902. 5 : No. 2. 

^Seashore: A method of measuring mental work: The psychergograph. 
Univ. of Iowa Studies in Psych. 1902. 3:1-17. 



**The average time of the initial 50 reactions in card-sorting was 106 
seconds; in the typewriter-reaction, 50 sec. The average practice-effect in 
the first test in the former was 32%; in the latter, 14%. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 127 

their order (SI. Mn.), sometimes assisted by a mnemonic device, 
as "Aetna" (Ly.). 

(b) Classification of the letters, to hold their positions without 
repeating- them in their order : 
* i) Left, a-t; right, e-n (Rt). 

2) I, 2, 3, 4; vowels odd; consonants even (Mn.) or 
vowels left, consonants, right, and alphabetic extremes 
on the left hand (Wf.). 

3) Terminals a — n; t belongs to a; e to n (Le.). 

4) Alphabetic order of a-t, of e-n, and of a-e (Wf.). 

The position referred to the keys (Le., Rt., SI., Ly., Wf., Dr.) 
or to the fingers (He., Cr., Wf. 2) ; in case it referred to the 
former, the finger was sometimes removed and the key glanced 
at to verify a judgment or to restore the order of the letters 
to the memory (Ly., SI., Wf.). 

Besides the foregoing causes for variation in the results, there 
were some others peculiar to the task : 

(a) Anticipation caused premonitory reactions which re- 
sulted in errors and confusion (Le., Ly., He., Sn.) ; the same 
eftect is caused by rapid rhythm when the process has become 
largely automatic (He. Cr. ). 

(b) Those who formed coordinations with the keys, often 
had difficulty in the control of their fingers (Le., Ly., Wf., Dr.) ; 
the difficulty also occurred when the scheme paired the letters 
into right and left groups and operated through kinaesthetic 
imagery in the arms, while the order of the letters in each group 
was determined by visual imagery (Rt.). 

(c) The mental tension involved, sometimes produced 
dizziness and nausea (Ly.). 

(d) The action and noise of the typewriter is so different 
from the type-bar machines that it was very distracting to some 
of the reagents who were typists (Rt., SI., He.). 

As a result of the influences of these factors of variation, 
the task was performed in many different ways by the respective 
reagents; and the essential method sometimes changed during 
the tests of the individual reagents. 

The former gave rise to, and may be said to be indicated by, 
great variation in initial ability, ranging from 36.4-67.7 seconds. 



128 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

which shows a preference for three types : one at 40 seconds 
per 50 reactions (Mn., Rt, He., Cr., Ms.); the second at 55 
seconds (He., Wf., Sn., Dn.) ; and the third at 65 (SI., Ly.). 

If the chang-e in the individual reagent's work occurs in an 
early series of his first test, it lowers his average for that test 
and decreases the difference between the results of the two 
tests; if it occurs early in his final test or late in the first test 
it operates in the opposite direction. The change is sufficiently 
radical in the case of two reagents to throw out their results: 
Mn. changed from repetition of the series of letters, in the 
beginning of her final test, to the use of a classification; Wf., 
at the beginning of his final test, changed from "verbal image — 
key" to "verbal image — finger," made a radical change in method, 
and just before taking the final test took up practice in 
typewriting. 

The improvement, in per cent of decrease in time, made by 
the other reagents was : 

Group I. 

Group 2. 
Group 3. 

Since the reagents in groups 2 and 3 did not attain in their 
practice in the two tests an efficiency equal to that of the reagents 
in Group i at their beginning, inspection of results will have 
to be limited largely to the latter. 

As to the practice-effect of the test upon itself for Group 2, 
it must be about 14% ; we have, unfprtunately, no trained 
reagents whose results can be used in comparison to test training- 
effect. For Group i, however, we are able to make an esti- 
mate. From the data of the old investigation (see Appendix 
A, Tables XXI p. 275 and XXIII p. 276). It is calculated 
that continuous practice in work identical with this test, for 
reagents whose initial efficiencies place them in Group i, resulted 
in a loss of y% (CI.) and 10% (Cr.), and a gain of 0.4% 



Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Le. 14.6 
Rt. 12.4 
He. -6.1 


Ms. 


-07 




Cr. 4-9 






Sn. 13.9 
Dr. 13.6 


SI. 10.4 
Ly. 4-7 









FORMAL DISCIPLINE 129 

(Mn.) ; and the effect of a free interval^^ of 45 days, after 
practice on 36 series, was a gain of 4.4% (Mn.). Since our 
practice in the first test amounted to but 4 series, and the interval 
was twice as long, it is possible that Le. Rt. and Cr. were 
benefited from 4% to 10% by their training. 

This benefit could be described, however, only in general 
terms: (a) The coordinations became more nearly equal in 
strength, as is shown by decrease of the smaller variations; 
(b) Steadiness of attention increased, as is shown by decrease 
in the number of 'balks,' (except for Cr., for whom there 
was increased distraction in operating the recording apparatus) ; 
and (c) Control of the memorial element increased, as is shown 
by the decrease in the length of the 'balks.' (a) is shared 
by Mn., SI., and Ly. ; (b) by SI.; and (c) by none of the other 
reagents. The training of the tachistoscope may have con- 
tributed higher sensitivity for the visual stimuli and better 
control in distributing the attention over part-processes; and 
the training on memory schemes may have contributed some- 
thing toward better control of the memorial element. 

What distinguishes the three types, as intimated above, are 
differences in the performance of the task: Group i begins 
with a fairly direct coordination of either visual impression, or 
the sound or kinaesthetic image into which it is converted, and 
the key or the finger; and reactions early begin to become more 
or less automatic (Rt., He., Cr., Ms.). The first effect of 
practice is likely to be loss in efficiency, as recorded in a preced- 
ing paragraph, due to evolving a scheme, more or less simple, 
which is to be instrumental, if practice is continued long enough, 
in effecting automatic coordination of visual impression and im- 
pulse of finger. Rt. began with (i) visual impression, (2) 
Kinaesthetic image of movement in the right or left arm, (3) 
visual image of key, (4) impulse of finger, and dropped (2) 
and (3). Cr. began with (i) visual impression, (2) verbal 
image, (3) impulse of finger, and dropped (2). Schemes were 

**The effect of the 80-day interval upon all our ireagents was an average 
loss between the last series of the first test and the first series of the final 
test, of 6% of the initial capacity. 



I30 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

very simple, relating the stimulus to kinaesthesis of arm or 
fingers; for Cr. this consisted in 'feeling' the letter in the 
finger. There was no alphabetic, logical, or phonetic 
classification. 

Group 2 begins with a more indirect coordination of stimulus 
and reaction, by interpolating retarding accompaniments of 
cognition and a more or less elaborate or complex classification 
of the letters, or an inefficient memorial representation of them, 
so that the reacting process is circuitous. Wf . began with ( i ) 
visual impression, (2) verbal image, (3) kinaesthetic image of 
eye-movement to key, (4) impulse of finger, and dropped (3). 
Schemes were complex, alphabetic, phonetic, and logical. 

Group 3 adds to these interpolations some especially inefficient 
process, probably usually of method. SI. and Ly. matched letter 
and key, for which the reacting finger had to be removed 
and returned before the movement could be carried out. 
The process is divided into two distinct acts : cognition of letters 
and searching for keys. 

The elements constituting the process of any reagent are at 
first selected from his stock of experience, and then are changed 
in accordance with the reagent's adaptability. No doubt Ly., 
who was not especially slow in card-sorting, came to the test 
with a strong sensory set of consciousness in accordance with 
her training in reaction to sound, for she complained that she 
gave her chief attention to the stimulus and could not get it 
directed upon the keys; the location of the key was either 
observed or remembered after its use was called for. Improve- 
ment was made, and many of the reactions were later carried 
out without involving a glance at the key, but the choice of the 
reaction remained a more or less distinct act following the 
discrimination of the stimulus. 

Although the course of practice varied with the type, the 
general efi;ect involved (a) the reduction of the interpolated 
process, (b) the simplification and finally transcendence of the 
scheme, (c) increase in partly or fully automatic reactions. 
The end cf continued practice would be the automatic coordina- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 131 

tion of visual impression and finger impulse, into which all 
types would merge. 

.*»• {6) Controlled Reaction 

The Controlled Reaction involves further interpolated mental process be- 
tween stimulus and reaction, namely the referring of the stimulus to one of 
the classes which determines the choice of the reacting movement. It has 
been used in Jastrow's^ laboratory under the name of "Classification Time"; 
10 monosyllablic words of each of the three grammatic classes, nouns, verbs, 
and adjectives, were used in irregular order as stimuli. Our test (see p. yy) 
follows Miinsterberg^ in using as stimuli the names of poets, philosophers, 
statesmen, scientists, and musicians. Both of these researches, however, used 
the cbronoscope for measuring the individual reactions, while we used the 
stop-watch (except in the case of Cr. who reacted as rapidly as possible to 
the successive stimuli). 

In this reaction there were five coordinations between class- 
name and fingers, but the class-name could be got only by 
classifying the stimulus; as, Newton, "scientist — 4th finger"; 
Mozart, "musician — fifth finger" ; etc. 

The variability of processes may be indicated by the following 
classification of methods : 

(a) The auditory impression of the name may be followed 
by a kinaesthetic image of the movement in the appropriate 
finger for the class to which the name belongs; and, as a result 
of practice, by a kinaesthetic impression from incipient move- 
ment in the finger, and later by the impulse of the finger in 
reaction. Attention is mainly upon classifying the name, and, 
at first, upon reviewing the class-finger coordinations. The 
coordination may be effected by conferring the professional air, 
disposition, or attitude of the class upon the finger (Cr.). 

(b) Or the auditory impression of the name may be followed 
by the pronunciation of the class-name, in the efifort of classifi- 
cation; then a judgment determining the class; then a choice 
of the appropriate finger; then the impulse of the finger (Ly.). 

(c) The coordinations may be more or less strong so that 
the attention may be given to the classification (Mn., Le., SI., 
He., Le., Re.) ; or the coordinations may be weak and demand 
most of the attention (Rt., He., Ms.) ; or both may be equally 



^Jastrow, Morehouse, & Harper: Classification Time. Am. Jr. Psych. 1891. 
4:411-415. 
* Miinsterberg : Beitrage fiir experimentelle Psychologic. 1889. Heft i :85. 



132 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

difficult so that the attention oscillates between more or less 
separate acts (Ly.); or both may be equally easy so that the 
attention by quick oscillations can carry them both along at 
the same time (Cr.). 

(d) The coordination may involve a scheme of the classes 
on the fingers (Le.) or in the positions the fingers occupy (Rt. ), 
or the classes may be simply held in sequential order (Wf.). 

The interval between series, or between reactions, may be 
used in reviewing the coordinations (Wf., He., Ey.), or in 
keeping the mind clear, in order to avoid anticipation of classes 

(Ey.)- 

Some further intimation of the variability of the processes, 
not only between different reagents, but with the same reagent, 
(as attention must oscillate from one weak part to another of 
the complex process) is given by the nature of the errors. They 
appear to have been owing to at least four principal causes : 

(a) False classification through their ignorance or confu- 
sion (Mn., Ly., He., SI., Ey.). 

(b) Coordination may be weak and the wrong finger be 
unconsciously used (Mn., SI., Ly., Ms.), or confused with 
another (Wf.). 

(c) Control of the fingers may be at fault; especially likely 
with the corresponding fingers of the two hands (Le., Rt., 
Ms., Ey.). 

(d) Automatic reactions may take place before classification 
is made, sometimes following the pronunciation of a class-name 
in trying to classify the man (Le.), sometimes as a result of 
strong expectation for a certain class (Ey.), or of a rhythm 
too fast to control (Mn., Ms.). 

(e) A few errors occurred through misunderstanding the 
name, as, Hayden for Hegel, Coe for Foe, Verdi for Virgil, 
(SI., Ms.). 

The greatest number of errors were made by those who put 
their attention mostly upon classification 

Among the reagents there was considerable variation in initial 
capacity; it ranged from 1.34-2.44 seconds per reaction, for 50 
reactions, and falls into three groups: 1.4 (Mn., Ms., Wf.) ; 
1.7 (Rt, SI, Ly., He., Cr., Ey.) ; 2.1 (Le., Re.). 

Analysis of results and examination of introspections, how- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE i33 

ever, do not reveal any simple characterization for the respective 
groups. That they are valid is attested by the 'reduced' time 
(total time minus free reaction, or cognition time), which would 
change but two reagents, by putting Rt. in group i and Ly. 
between Groups i and 2.^* 

The improvement in per cent of decrease in time was : 

Trained ist Control 2d Control 

Group I. Mn. 19 Ms. -7.0 

Wf. 1.8 

Group 2. Cr. 14 Ey. 6.7 

He. ii.S 

Rt. II 

SI. 1.5 

Ly. -5.6 

Group 3. Le 26 Re. 20.8 

Mn. and Wf. gained slightly, and Ey. considerably (7-16) in 
errors ; the latter owing to her classification of unknown men as 
scientists, the least known class. 

If the processes in the respective groups can be considered 
equivalent, and equally susceptible to improvement, some ad- 
vantage of training may be presumed from the tachistoscopic, 
and memory, training and from learning 12-letter-rectangles. 
In what way the training may be presumed to mfiuence 
the test is a matter of conjecture : The training on the tachisto- 
scope and learning 12-letter-rectangles demanded keen attention 
upon signal for a short time, and required its distribution over 
the part-processes involved; the former, and also the latter in 
the case of Rt., heightened reproductivity of imagery. The 
memory training may have contributed to steadiness in keeping 
the memorial element of the process ready to the end of forming 
automatic coordinations between class and finger. 

Improvement consisted in abridgement of the interpolated 
processes between stimulus and reaction. Some of the specific 
elements in this were: (a) reduction of the pronunciation of 
the class-word to a kinaesthetic image, or at least to incipient 

»*ThIs is due to the fact that they took a disproportionate time for the 
mechanical and perceptive part of the reaction; the average was .6 or .7 sec, 
and they took .97 and .99, respectively. 



134 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

movement (Mn.), or even to the professional air of the class 
the attitude of which is coordinated with the finger (Cr.) ; (b) 
effecting coordination between class and finger by use of a 
scheme; Rt. put poets and musicians on the ends, statesmen in 
the middle, and philosophers and scientists in the intervening 
spaces, holding the scheme visually; then the scheme became 
more kinaesthetic and less conscious; (c) the habit of using 
the intervals between series for reviewing the coordina- 
tions so as to be about equally prepared for all classes (He.), 
or particularly for those which have not been recently reacted 
to (Wf.); or for keeping the mind clear so as not to be in- 
fluenced by expectation (Ey.) ; (d) attention steadied over the 
whole process so as to keep it under better control (He., Cr.). 

Those who fared worse in the final test than the rest gave 
their attention to the classification mostly, which left the coor- 
dinations relatively free from practice-effect. Ms. lost some on 
all the classes, but most on poets, scientists and musicians; SI. 
and Ly. made gains on poets, scientists and musicians, but lost 
disproportionately on philosophers and statesmen, that is, their 
coordinations became more unequal in strength than they had 
been in the first test. 

None gained equally on all classes, and the greatest inequali- 
ties of gain were made by Le. who reduced her time almost 
wholly upon philosophers and scientists, classes that had taken 
on the average more than twice the time required for the other 
classes. But the effect of the interval on all those who gained 
much was to even up the strength of the various coordinations. 

(7) Sound Discrimination 

Sensible discrimination ranks with reaction time as a device or procedure 
in the psychological laboratory for the study of mental processes. Kiilpe^ 
notes its high dependence upon attention, Titchener* suggests it as a gross 
measure of attention, and Spearman* concluded, from correlational data, that 
it is most closely related to general intelligence. In the laboratory it has 
been used in the study of memory of lengths of lines (Hegelmaier*), of 
memory and recognition of tones (pitch) (Wolfe," Angell and Harwood,* 
Angeir), of intensities of sounds (Lehmann,' Angell'), and of shades of gray 
(Lehmann," Angell") ; and for the analytical study of mental imagery (Bent- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I35 

ley," Whipple'') . It has heen used as a mental test in determining power to 
discriminate differences in pitch (Gilbert," Seashore," Wissler," Thomp- 
son," Spearman,' Krueger and Spearman," Burt"), shades of gray, (Thomp- 
son" and our own test on pp. 42ff.) and color (Bennett""). The test is 
standardized in Whipple's manual,"' which gives an account of its use and its 
results. Since qualitative variability in performance may depend in its con- 
crete aspects upon the nature of the differences to be discriminated, it must 
be remembered that our test (see pp. 77f-) involves differences in intensity. 

Since an analysis of the various processes of this test has 
.already been made in a former experiment on Discrimination,^^ 
and a characterization of individual performances is more 



'Kiilpe: Outlines of Psychology. 1901. 38,4^9. 

^ Titchener : Lectures on the elementary psychology of feeling and attention. 

1908. 279. 
^Spearman: "General Intelligence" objectively determmed and measured. 

Am. Jr. Psych. 1904. 15 :279. ^ , , „ 

*Hegelmaier, in Vierordt's laboratory about 1852 (Quoted by Bergstrom: 

Am. Jr. Psych. 18:211). 

"Wolfe: Untersuchungen iiber das Tongedachtniss. Phil. Stud. 1880. 

' Angell and Harwood : Experiments on discrimination of clangs for dif- 
ferent ''intervals of time. I. Am. Jr. Psych. 1899-1900. ii:67ff. 

'Angell: Discrimination of clangs for different intervals of time. II. Am. 
Jr. Psych. 1900-1901. I2:58ff. 

' Lehmann : Kritische und experimenteile Studien iiber das Wiedererkennen. 
Phil. Stud. 1892. 7:204ff. . 

"Angell: On Judgments of "Like" in discrimination experiments. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1907. 356ff. 

"* Lehmann : Ueber Wiedererkennen. Phil. Stud. 1889. 5 :96ff • 

"Angell: Discrimination of shades of gray for different intervals of time. 

Phil. Stud. 1902. 19:1-21. ,. . .J ,. . T r. u o 

^ Bentley : Memory image and its qualitative fidelity. Am. Jr. Psych. 1899. 

11:1-48. . . 

'^ Whipple : An analytical study of the memory image and the process ot 
judgment in the discrimination of clangs and tones. Am. Jr. Psych. 1901. 
I2:409ff, and 1902. I3:2i9ff. _ r v 1 1 -u 

" Gilbert : Experiments on the musical sensitiveness of school children. 
Studies from Yale Psych. Lab. 1893. i :8o-87. • , tt • c 

" Seashore : Hearing ability and discriminative abdity for pitch. Univ. ot 
Iowa Studies in Psych. 1899. 2:55-64. , . , -o , t^ Tv,r 

'"Wissler: Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
1901. 3: No. 6. 

"Thompson: Psychological norms m men and women: Univ. Uhicago 
Contrib. to Phil. 1903. 4: No. i. Pp. 72, 81. 

" Krueger and Spearman : Die Korrelation zwischen verschiedenen geistigen 
Leistungs^fahigkeiten. Zeits. f. Psych. 1907. ,44:87. ^ ^ ^ , 

"Burt: Experimental tests of general intelligence. Br. Jr. Psych. 1909. 
3 :98, 123. 

^Bennett: Formal discipline. 1907. P- 59- ^. , • . 

=^ Whipple: Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. Of brightness, IS9; 

of pitch, 180. 
" Pp. 47f. 



136 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

minutely made in a following experiment in which sensible dis- 
crimination constituted the training,^^ only sufficient analysis is 
made here to indicate the fact of variation in processes. 

(a) The sounds may be naively compared as external events 
(Mn., Vg.) sometimes accompanied by visual imagery of the 
experimenter's production of the sound; as, imaging him striking 
the desk with a pencil; and the weaker sound may be imaged 
as coming from a nearer source. 

(b) The image of the first may be compared with the sensa- 
tion of the second (Mn., Rt., He.). 

(c) The effect of the sounds on the body may be compared; 
as, the placing of the kinaesthetic auditory image higher or lower 
in the head (Le. ), or the blinking of the eyes (Ly. ). 

(d) The reactions to the sounds may be compared; as, move- 
ments of the hands, head, throat and tongue (Ly), nodding the 
head (Mn.), or breathing out forcibly like an axeman when 
striking the blow (He.).^^ 

(e) Or there may be no imagery, and the effects in the 
attitude compared (Rt., Wf.). 

(f ) And the sounds may be represented by verbal classification 
(Ly., Ms.). 

Certain method may be employed ; as, holding the breath 
and closing the eyes (Le.), holding the ear in a certain position 
to catch the sound ( SI. ) , making allowance for the second sound 
seeming relatively louder because of its getting closer attention 
(He.), or because it is accented by an iambic rhythm (Wr.). 

The process further varied because of certain distractions; 
as, external noises (noted by almost all reagents), distracting 
thought (Wf.), difference in quality of sounds (He.), expec- 
tation (Rt., Le.). (Many noticed the difference in quality of 
loud and weak sounds as appearing high or low in pitch, metallic 
or wooden, but did not consider it a distraction except in judging 
"like"— Mn., Rt, Ly., He., Ms.). 

^ Pp. i99ff., 2o6ff. 

'^Kuhlmann (On the Analysis of Auditory Memory Consciousness. Am. 
Jr. Psych. 1909. 20: I94ff.) found the motor processes used in imitating the 
sounds to be the most frequent factor in the recall of details of sounds of 
familiar things. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 137 

That the essential process itself varies with the individual 
reagent is indicated by introspective notes that the norm varied 
in intensity (Rt, Ms.). 

Some variation undoubtedly occurred by reason of un- 
familiarity with the (customary) symbols used in recording- the 
judgments (Le., Ms.), {vid. Appendix B. Fig. 8, p. 290). 

Although the processes varied with each individual, there is 
not sufficient introspective evidence at hand to indicate any 
radical change between the final and the first tests. 

Initial capacity ranged from 43%-73% of right judgments, 
and may be distributed in three groups :^^ 70% (He., Wf., SI.), 
57% (Mn., Le., Rt., Ms.), and 45% (Ly-, Vg., Wr.). 

Improvement made in per cent of initial capacity was : 

Regular ist Control 2d Control 

Group I. *S1. 18 65 51 Wf. -4 -6 -46 

He. 000 

Group 2. Mn. 41 50 50 *Ms. 5 22 46 

Le. -ID -5-58 

*Rt. 9 14 35 

Group 3. Ly. 2^ 25 26 Vg. 30 35 Z7 

Wr. 25 21 21 



* Foot-note 98 indicates that these reagents fall into lower classes, for the. 
2d and 3d columns. 

The first column of per cents refers to judgments on all four intervals above 
and below the value of the norm, where D = o; the second column, to judg- 
ments on the first two intervals above and below the value of the norm only ; 
the third column to change in the "Difference Limen." 



°^ The initial capacity to judge differences between the stimuli of the first 
two intervals above and below the value of the norm, also varies, from 29% 
to 58% R cases, and would also classify the reagents into three groups around' 
the averages of 53%, 43%, and 34%. But it would change SI. to the 2d group, 
and Ms. and Rt. to the 3d group. 

Also the "Difference Limen" (that point between o and 4 intervals from 
the value of the norm at which 50% of the judgments are right) of the 
reagents ranges from 0.97 to 3.20; and classifies the reagents into three groups 
just as capacity of discrimination on the two intervals above and below does ; 
except that it places Ms. between Groups 2 and 3. (These three groups : 1.2, 
1.7, 3-) 



138 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

About Group i nothing can be said except that initial capacity- 
was remarkably high and perhaps no improvement could be 
expected. Group 2 shows several consistent gains: Mn. in the 
three columns and SI. in the 2d and 3d columns. Abstracting 
from the results of Group 3, where gain should be relatively 
greater, Mn. and SI. seem to have been benefited by their train- 
ing. Mn. was exercised on minimal stimuli in the field of vision, 
and may be expected to show some profit from it in discrimina- 
tion; and both Mn. and SI. may have applied some training- 
effect in better attention for the moment, and in better 
reproduction of imagery, 

Le.'s results are peculiarly clouded. They do not show the 
improvement she made in discrimination, for, although half of 
her series in the first test yielded 4 R cases each, and half of 
her series in the final test yielded 6 R cases each, for some 
reason which her introspections fail to explain, a fifth of the 
latter yielded but 2 R cases each. It is possible that the erasures 
in her record indicate confusion of symbols; in which case her 
irregular results are accounted for. 

(8) Memory of Sounds 

The memory span, which is found by noting the longest series of digits or 
letters perfectly reproduced from a single presentation, usually auditory, is 
noted by Pillsbury^ as one of the customary measures of attention, and Kiilpe 
says <^hat "attention produces its maximal effect in the reproductory sphere."* 
Our tests in memory of serially presented members differ from the memory- 
span test in measuring the average number of members reproduced from a 
single presentation of a series too long to be completely retained (Methode 
der behaltenen Glieder, see p. 142). This test of memory of sounds (see 
p. 78) follows Fracker," and involves the perception and recall of four easily 
distinguishable intensities of sound. It is known that cognition of intensities 
of sensations occupies longer time than cognition of qualities, and that discrim- 
ination of intensities of sound is peculiarly difficult (Kiilpe*). These facts 
in addition to the novelty of the task and to the composite character of the 
auditory image for clangs, as found by Whipple," are calculated, in spite of the 
simplicity of the stimuli, to cause great qualitative variation in the processes 
used in the test. 



^Pillsbury: Attention. 1908. 84ff. 
* Kiilpe: Outlines of psychology. 1901. 430. 

' Fracker : On the transference of training in memory. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
1908. Whole No. 38. Experiment III, pp. 59£. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 139 

The four intensities making up the series of ten sounds were 
identified by the numbers from i to 4, in the order of intensity. 

Since this test closely resembles one of Fracker's,^^ the analysis 
of processes and the description of methods used by the various 
reagents will be of particular interest. His reagents used visual 
imagery mainly; some of ours used neither auditory nor visual 
imagery (Wf.). 

As the sounds came they had to be cognized, which was done 
by naming (giving them the numbers 1-4), or by comparing 
them with each other; the former needed a memory of absolute 
intensity, and the latter had to be done very quickly, in process, 
or it had to be left till the whole series had been received. These 
three methods of receiving the impressions would from the 
beginning of the experiment necessitate quite different pro- 
cesses, and they were all illustrated by the reagents in this test. 

The retention of the sounds was carried out in various ways : 

(a) Retained in auditory imagery (He.). 

i) The last few sounds of the series only (Le., Ly.). 
2) In rhythm according to intensity, like chimes 
(Mn. Gl.). 

(b) Retained by kinaesthetic (Wf.), kinaesthetic-auditory 
(Al., SI., Ty.), auditory-visual (Ly., Rt.) imagery of the name 
(number) given to the sound when it came. 

i) Giving a rhythm to the naming (Le., Ms.). 

2) Grouping the numbers (Le., Rt., He., Ms., Wf.). 

3) Using mnemonic aids; as assigning the sounds to 

a spatial scheme, like numbered steps (Al.),ioo qj. 
associating their numbers with the visible numbers 
beside the blank spaces for the record (SI., Ms.). 

(c) Retained by kinaesthetic imagery of the response to the 
sounds (Ly.). 

■* Kiilpe : op. cit. pp. 417-8. 

° Whipple: An analytical study of the memory image and the process of 
judgment in the discrimination of clangs and tones. Am. Tr Psvch 1002 
13 :259. J- • iA^ . 



°' Op. cit. Nine Tones, p. 59. 

^°°A favorite method with Fracker's reagents {op. cit., 70-71); Kuhlmann 
(On the analysis of auditory memory consciousness. Am. Jr. Psych. 1909. 
2o:i94ff.) found visual imagery that accompanied the auditory imagery a 
frequent means of recall of sounds of familiar things. 



140 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

The imagery of some of the reagents was of a mixed type 
(Rt.), and methods varied radically both between and with 
individual reagents. 

As a consequence of doing so many different tasks in taking 
the same test, the results varied greatly; initial capacity ranged 
from .3 to .7 average points per series, and fall into four groups 
of about .7, .5, .4, and .3 points. 

Improvement for the reagents who did not radically change 
their methods between tests, in per cent of initial capacity, was : 

Regular 1st Control 2A Control 

Group I. Gl. -17.6 

Group 3. Le. Z7 

Rt. 38 

Group 4. Al. 52 

Each of these reagents named the sounds as they came; for 
Le. the first group of four stood out in kinaesthetic imagery, 
the last two persisted in auditory imagery; but in the very last 
of the final test a new and more adequate method began to 
develop — retention of the rhythm of the intensities of the 
sounds in a series as in chimes. Rt. grouped the names in 
rhythms and recalled through kinaesthetic and auditory-visual 
imagery of the names. Al. recalled through kinaesthetic- 
auditory imagery ; his visual imagery is not strong or he probably 
would have made use of the vague spatial scheme that occurred 
to him near the end of the first test. 

Some of the other reagents made much more loss or gain 
(Group I. He. -11, SI. -3; Group 2. Ly. -16, Ms. 14; Group 3. 
Wf. 49, Group 4. Mn. 116%), but they all made radical changes 
in their methods in the final test. Mn., who made the greatest 
gain, grouped the sounds into three rhythms (4,4,2) in the 
first test ; but in the final followed the sounds as in a tune which 
gave the effect of chimes, the strains of which were remembered 
and transposed into numbers by comparison after the whole 
series was received. SI. simply named the sounds in the first 
test, but appealed to mnemonic aids in the final, and, for some 
series, associated the names of the sounds with the visible num- 
bers of their respective spaces on the blank record before him 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 141 

(the same method that Ms. used in her first and had to change 
from, when discovered, in her final test) or he associated them 
with his fingers. Ly., in the first test, reproduced from auditory 
and visual images of the names of the sounds, except for the 
last two or three sounds in the series which persisted in auditory 
imagery, but in the final test she used more kinaesthetic-auditory 
imagery for the early part of the series and kinaesthtic imagery 
of response to the sounds for the later members of the series. 
He., who found it extremely difficult in the first test to (a) 
name the sound, (b) place its order, and (c) hear the next 
one, in almost simultaneous process, and who combined kinaes- 
thetic imagery of names with auditory imagery of sounds, gave 
up, in the final test, the triple process and attempted to get an 
auditory impression of the whole series, making identification 
afterward by comparison; and while he stopped in the series 
with as many members as he thought he could retain, in the 
first test, in the final he tried for all, which resulted in indefinite 
grouping and fixing of the members. Wf. introduced in his 
final test rhythms of three. 

The changes that were made in the processes seem to be 
broadly adaptive, and in no way dependent upon the training 
during the interval. 

The reagents in the table above had practice in fixing and 
reproducing kinaesthetic and visual imagery of letters, and it is 
possible (a) that they did not change to other methods because 
their training improved them in the elements they had already 
used; and (b) that this improvement accounts largely for the 
improvement shown in the table. But since there are no com- 
parable records from control reagents at hand, the latter point 
must be left an open question. 

The changes in method were not necessarily beneficial; as is 
shown several paragraphs above, in parenthesis ; half of the 
reagents making them lost in efficiency. 

As to the effectiveness of the respective methods, those who 
associated the number assigned to the sounds with the numbers 
of the blank spaces for the record made the largest scores, 



142 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Ms. producing a perfect score. The next efficient method was 
the auditory reception and retention of the whole series as 
chimes. Neither method involved the memory of sound in- 
tensity: The first being merely the memory of associated num- 
bers; the latter, of relations between intensities grouped in a 
very exceptional manner. 

It would seem that the visual forms of imagery employed 
with greatest success by Fracker's reagents were not necessary 
forms, but were preferences on the part of reagents who had 
good visual or kinaesthetic imagery, readily adaptable to the 
test, and encouraged by the training. 

(9) Memory of Consonants 

Memory for letters, usually consonants orally presented in a series too 
long to be reproduced from a single presentation (according to Ebbinghaus" 
Methode der behaltenen Glieder), has been frequently used in mental tests 
(Jacobs,'" Miinsterberg,^ Cattell,* Toulouse,* Pohlmann,° Winch,' Berg- 
strom'* Sleight'). Our test (see p. 79) is similar to Whipple's Test 38 A. 
(2), Variation (6).* The five series of 10 consonants were presented visually 
with a Jastrow Tachistoscope. 

The following is a classification of the more important 
methods followed by the reagents in this test: 

(a) Attention to the series as a whole with the view of 
retaining the visual imagery (Al., who recalled, however, from 
auditory imagery). 

(b) Naming the letters in rhythms of 4, 4, 2, (Le., Ms) ; 
of two's (Le.) ; of 4, 3, 3, etc. 



' Ebbinghaus : Ueber neue Methode zur Priifung geistiger Fahigkeiten und 
ihre Anwendung bei Schulkindern. Zeits. f. Psych. 1897. I3:40iff. 
'* Jacobs : Experiments on "prehension." Mind. 1887 [o.s.] I2:75ff. 
' Miinsterberg : Beitrage zur Experimentellen Psychologic. Heft 4. 1892. 

S. I2lff. 

^ Cattell : Mental tests and measurements. Mind. 1890. 15 -.377. 

* Toulouse : Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la superio- 
rite intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. (Zola). 1896. 207. 

" Pohlmann : Experimentelle Beitrage zur Lehre vom Gedachtnis. Berlin. 
1906. 

" Winch : Immediate memory in school children. II Auditory. Br. Jr. 
Psych. 1906. 2 :52ff. 

'"Bergstrom: Effect of changes in the time variables in memorizing, to- 
gether with some discussion of the technique of memory experimentation. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1907. i8:2o6ff. 

'Sleight: Memory and formal training. Br. Jr. Psych. 191 1. 4:430. 

' Whipple : Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. 366. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I43 

i) "Impressing" the letter-names vividly while 

perceiving. 
2) Strengthening the kinaesthetic impressions by serial 

repetition after each impression (Tn., Ds.), or 

in groups of four (Mn.)^^^ 

(c) Forming associations between the letters through familiar 
initials, abbreviations, cattle-brands, chemical compounds, etc. 
(Ms., Ly., He.). . m ^ 

(d) Making syllables by interpolating vowel sounds (Us.). 

Reproduction usually involved several kinds of imagery m 
each record ; usually the first part was reproduced by kinaesthetic 
or kinaesthetic-auditory imagery, or representative imagery 
(associations), and the last few letters by kinaesthetic or visual 
imagery; occasionally there was reproduction from auditory 
imagery (Ly., Al.). In case both parts of the series (begin- 
ning and end) were reproduced from kinaesthetic imagery, the 
former was the rote effect of repetitions and the latter the 
recently converted impression. 

Some of the reagents changed their methods in the final test : 
Le. changed from a rhythm of four to a rhythm of two in 
naming; and in her final recorded the last group, which was 
not accorded so much attention, first, leaving effort free to 
retain the earlier part of the series in kinaesthetic imagery; and 
it is impossible to determine whether the disadvantage of the 
former change is equivalent to the advantage of the latter. Ms., 
though not consistent in method in either test, made some use of 
associating letters with their preceding fellows, already re- 
corded, in the first test, but in the final made use of a rhythm 
of 4 in naming. Wf., who relied in the first test upon kinaes- 
thetic imagery for the main part of a series and visual imagery 
for the last few letters, made great use of associations for the 
former and kinaesthetic for the latter, in the final test. Ds. 
changed from forming syllables by interpolating vowels, in the 
first part of the series, and a visual retention of the last few 
letters, to rapid repetitions between exposures, of all the letters 
from the beginning of each half of the series; as, C, CV, CVJ, 
CVJB, etc. 

^•^ Cf. Miiller, G. E. : Zur Analyse der Gedachtnistatigkeit und des Vor- 
stellungsverlaufes. Zeitschr. f. Psych. 191 1. Erg.-Bd. 5. S. 214. 



144 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

There was some variation between the reagents who retained 
about the same methods for their final test that they used in 
their first. Mn. repeated in groups of four, reviewing after 
each group, recalling from kinaesthetic-auditory imagery, and 
occasionally recorded from the bottom up (perhaps from visual 
imagery). Rt. divided each series into two parts for rhythm, 
in the first test taking 5 members for the first group and in 
the final 6, which was recorded from kinaesthetic imagery, and 
recording the last few letters in the series from visual imagery. 
SI. recorded the last letter from visual, the others from kinaes- 
thetic imagery and associations. Ly. made use of associations 
and reproduced from kinaesthetic-auditory imagery and from 
visual imagery. He. occasionally recorded the last letter from 
visual imagery, but most of the reproduction was from kinaes- 
thetic imagery supported by associations. Cr. depended chiefly 
upon kinaesthetic-auditory imagery for all but the last two letters, 
which were retained visually; associations occurred occasionally. 
Al. tried to grasp the series as a whole, evidently a predominantly 
visual effort, and recorded largely from auditory imagery, as 
is shown by confusion between similarly sounding letters. Tn. 
repeated letters in intervals between exposures, each time from 
the beginning, until repetition excluded perception (at about 
the 7th consonant) ; then got the last few letters from 
kinaesthetic imagery from a single repetition. 

Initial capacity ranged from .3 to .7 points, per series, and 
classifies the reagents into four groups : .7, .6, .4, .3. 

Improvement in per cent of increase over initial efficiency, 
was made by those reagents retaining in the final test the methods 
used in the first, as follows : 





Regul 


ar 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Group I. 


He. 

Cr. 


17 

-13* 






Group 2. 


Rt. 
SI. 


34 
20 
12 




Tn. I 


Group 3. 


Ly. 


-3 






Group 4. 


Al. 


99 







''Irregular ; due to operator's error. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 145 

Were one to consider Ly. as equivalent to a control reagent, 
since she was training in reaction time, it would give some 
slender basis for supposing that He., Mn., Rt., and Al were 
benefited by their training. The training of all, except He., 
was upon the reproduction of letters exposed as visual impres- 
sions. Rt. shows some carrying over of method in the 6-term 
grouping in his final test. The factors of improvement in this 
test are not so different from the factors of improvement in 
the training: 

(a) Better coordination of the part-processes; e.g., perceiv- 
ing and naming, grasping in rhythm, reviewing a rhythmic 
group hastily before fixing the next; recording and retaining, 
since recording involves kinaesthetic reproduction of different 
rhythm, also an accentuation of the group attended to, at the 
expense of other groups "retained kinaesthetically. This con- 
tributes toward the following classes, but does not account wholly 
for them. 

(b) Better fixing of imagery. 

(c) Better recall. 

The last two factors depend upon increased sensitivity and 
higher liability and fidelity of reproduction. Both are affected 
by. conditions of attention. 

The complete segregation of these factors is not possible 
with the present data, though each is occasionally clear, (a) is 
shown by Mn. in perfect records interspersed with low scores, 
due to kinaesthetic imagery disappearing while recording; (b) 
is shown by Rt. who extends the first group of letters from five 
or six to seven or eight, and Al. who extends the first group of 
a series from two or three, to three or four and the last group 
from two to three; and (c) is shown by Mn., Rt., and SI., in 
fewer substitutions and misplacings. 

Change of method was advantageous to those reagents who 
made it: Group 2. Wf. improved his score 11%; Group 3. 
Ds. 61.2%; Le. 39%; Group 4. Ms. 48%. 

(10) Memory of Numerals 

Memory for digits serially presented, usually in auditory form, has been 
used as a mental test (Jacobs,^ Bolton,'" Miinsterberg,^ Toulouse,' Cattell and 
Farrand,' Ebbinghaus,^ Wissler,' Binet,' Pohlmann,^ Krueger and Spearman,' 



146 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

Sharp'") ; sometimes for the purpose of measuring attention (Bolton/" Binet^. 
Digits were preferred to non-sense syllables by Cattell and Farrand.^ Our 
test (see p. 79) is similar to Whipple's Test 38 A. (2), Variation (i) ;" 
series of 10 printed digits were presented visually with the Jastrow 
tachistoscope. 

Methods varied in their general characteristics as follows: 

(a) Repetition i) of single numerals (Tn., Le., SI, Ds., Cr.) 

2) in rhythms (Le., Ms., Rt, Tn., He., Al.) 

3) Naming once. 

4) Naming over and over. 

3) and 4) are both combined with both 
i) and 2). 

(b) Grouping (4-place Mn. ; 3-place Wf . ; 5-p Ds., Cr.).^"^ 

(c) Apperceptive grouping or relating (Ly., He., Wf.).^*^^ 

(d) Associating with numbers recorded in a preceding series 
(Ms.). 

Recall was through various imagery and was usually com- 
plex: Auditory (Mn.), auditory-visual (Ly.), kinaesthetic- 
visual (Rt, Le., SI, He.), kinaesthetic-auditory-visual (Cr.), 
and through associations (Ly., Wf.). Sometimes the disparate 
imagery supported each other on the same numerals recalled; 



'Jacobs: Experiments on "prehension." Mind. 1887. [o.s.] 12 :75flf. 
'" Bolton : Growth of memory in school children. Am. Jr. Psych. 1891-2. 
4:362ff. 
^ Munsterberg : Beitrage zur experimentellen Psychologic. Heft 4. 1892. 

I2lff. 

^ Toulouse : Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la superiority 
intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. (Zola). 1896. 222. 

* Cattell and Farrand: Physical and mental measurements of the students 
of Columbia University. Psych. Rev. 1896. 3 :644. 

^ Ebbinghaus : Ueber cine neue Methode zur Priifung geistiger Fahigkeiten 
und ihre Anwendung bei Schulkindern. Zeits. f . Psych. 1897. 13 :4io. 

*Wissler: Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
1901. 3 : No. 6. p. 9. 

' Binet : L'fitude experimentale de I'lntelligence. 1903. Pp. 24off. 

' Pohlmann : Experimentelle Beitrage zur Lehre vom Gedachtnis. 1906. 

* Krueger and Spearman : Die Korrelation zwischen verschiedenen geistigen 
Leistungsfahigkeiten. Zeits. f. Psych. 1907. 44:5off. 

'" Sharp : Individual psychology : A study in psychological method. Am. 
Jr. Psych. 1899. 10:351. 
"Whipple: Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. P. 364. 

^"^Cf., Miiller: Zeits. f. Psych., Erg. Band 5. S. 211. 

^'^ Idem. S. 215; also Knors: Archiv f. d. ges. Psych., 17:340. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 147 

sometimes cooperated in holding their respective numerals 
independently. 

The following reagents used different methods in the final 
test from those used in the first : He. added to his 2-place method 
of naming, an apperceptive element by relating the number to 
100, and he dropped his visual reproduction of the last numbers 
in a series for kinaesthetic imagery. Cr. changed from kinaes- 
thetic-auditory, and visual for the last two letters, to a complex 
grouping involving 2-place and 3-place numbers, as, " '", " '". 
Le. changed from a rhythm of four to a mere repetition. Al. 
changed from a total impression to groups of 4, 6. Ms. changed 
from a rhythm of five to a single naming with effort to associate 
the numbers with the figures recorded in the preceding series, 
which essentially changed the process to memory of associated 
pairs. Wf., who had used kinaesthetic imagery supported by 
associations (perceived relationship between the figures in the 
series, such as products, squares, cubes, etc.), changed to group- 
ing into 3-place numbers. Tn. and Ds. changed respectively 
from a rhythm of 6, 4, and a grouping into 5 -place numbers, to 
serial repetition from the beginning, after each exposure, which 
they had just used with the consonants. 

Individual differences in processes between the reagents who 
did not change their methods radically were : Mn. recalled from 
auditory imagery of 4-place numbers. Rt. used a kinaesthetic 
rhythm for six digits, and visual imagery for the last four. SI. 
named in pairs, 2-place numbers, and recalled the last figure 
or two visually. Ly. used associations furnished by perceiving 
relations between the numbers, their sums and differences, re- 
tained the numbers expressing the relationships visually, and 
recalled the numbers themselves from auditory imagery 
supported by the association-meanings. 

Initial capacity ranged from .37 to .92 points, per series, 
and classifies the reagents into four groups : .8, .6, .5, .4. 

Improvement in per cent of increase over initial efficiency, 
for the reagents who did not radically change their methods, was : 



148 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

Regular ist Control 2d Control 

Group I. Mn. 17 

Rt. -7* 
Group 2. SI. 30 

Group 3. Ly. 15 

*This score illustrates the inadequacy of the Spearman "Footrule for scor- 
ing the memory test;" (vid. Whipple: Tests, p. 367). The loss was caused 
by four reproduced numerals in correct order being misplaced; omitting this 
score, the reagent shows a gain of 12%. 

These reagents presumably improved somewhat by reason of 
their training, the results comparing favorably with those of 
corresponding groups in the preceding test, but since there are 
no control averages to compare with them, the supposition rests 
unproven. 

Those who changed methods, with one exception gained 
more: Group i. Cr. 10%, He.-2%; Tn. 16.7%; Group 2. Wf. 
52%, Ms, 33%; Group 3. Ds. 11%; Group 4. Le. 17%, 
Al. 70%. 

(11) Memory of Visual Signs 

The signs (see p. 79, and Appendix B. Fig. 11, p. 291) 
were so unfamiliar that, although they were clearly perceived 
in the one-second exposures, they were not apperceived and 
therefore were not usually subject to recall. However, some 
of the signs suggested to the reagents familiar things or con- 
ventional characters, and in this way made an impression that 
could be utilized for recall. This impression did not need to 
be largely visual, as the test presupposed, but could be converted 
into any other imagery that would serve as a carrier for the sug- 
gested thing, plus a modicum of visual or other imagery which 
suggested any necessary variation in the drawing. Thus, none of 
the reagents reproduced more than the last sign from purely 
visual memory; but gave the symbols names of the things they 
resembled, as, d, J, 8, 10, omega, phi, dutch cap, etc., and ap- 
proximated the signs in their reproductions through retention 
of these names, principally in verbal imagery, and secondary 
criteria of deviation from the outline of the conventional thing. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I49 

The test shows the impossibiHty of forcing the use of visual 
imagery by such material and method. -^^^ 

(12) Memory of Associated Pairs 

Memory for "paired associates" is a variation of Miiller and Pilzecker's' 
"Trefifermetliode," and has been used with vocabulary material (Bourdon,^ 
Thorndike'). Our method (see p. 79; also Appendix B, Fig. 10, p. 290), 
differs from the original in the simultaneous presentation of the pairs to be 
associated. A printed consonant and a printed digit were presented together 
in series of 10; recall of the digit was required upon a second presentation 
of its associated consonant. 

The process was intended to be memory of contiguous asso- 
ciations, but since this was more difficult or unfamiliar than 
memory of serial order, the latter was not always inhibited, 
and introspections are not sufficiently full to be trustworthy in 
reporting this source of error. 

Processes, so far as introspections indicate them, varied 
greatly: The usual process was to name the letter and digit 
together so as to get a strong unitary kinaesthetic, auditory, 
or kinaesthetic-auditory, image of the pair; and when the letter 
appeared alone it was again named to recall its associate. It is a 
simple process, and if the reagents had been so instructed they 
probably could have adhered closely to it without great variation. 
But variation appears immediately in the 'aufgabe,' and intro- 
spections scarcely more than indicate that it occurred. 

Mn. said the numeral came as an unfinished syllable of a word, 

Mn., Le. and others found that familiar or significant letters 
held their associations best. 

He. and Ms. found visual (G6, C5) and other associations: 
H2 from chemistry; C3 from alphabetic order, etc. 

Rt. and Ly. supplemented kinaesthetic imagery with visual, 
and found some combinations easier to pronounce. 

Mn. and Ly. were caused some distraction by having to inhibit 
a tendency to notice serial order. 

^Miiller und Pilzecker: Experimentelle Beitrage zur Lehre vom Gedachtniss. 
Zeits. f. Psych. Erg. 1900. i :2. 
^Bourdon: Recherches sur I'habitude. Annee Psych. 1901. 8:327ff. 
'Thorndike: Memory for paired associates. Psych. Rev. 1908. I5:i22ff. 

*"* Cf. Kuhlmann : On the analysis of the memory consciousness ; a study 
in the mental imagery and memory of meaningless visual forms. Psych. Rev., 
1906, 13 :3i6ff. 



ISO JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

He. found that some associates not repeated came up for 
recording. The attitude of the reagents toward these indefinite 
associations varied somewhat in the two tests and would be a 
source of error in the resuhs. This attitude is indicated by 
the relative number of recorded associations that proved correct : 

Per cent, of the numbers recorded, that were correct. 





First 


Final 


Mn. 


39 


43 


Le. 


56 


83 


Rt. 


S^ 


42 


SI. 


54 


41 


Ly. 


56 


56 


He. 


91 


80 


Cr. 


30 


SO 


Al. 


50 


16 


Ms. 


31 


66 


Wf. 


93 


66 


Es. 


52 


94 


Pe. 


42 


46 



Results show that there was a general tendency for associates 
of earlier series to persist and cause errors, especially if they 
were intensified by significant letters or by mnemonic connections. 

The initial capacities ranged from .08 to .42 points and re- 
sults are so irregular as to make their inspection unprofitable. 

(13) Learning 12-Letter-Rectangles 

Memory for consonants, simultaneously presented in a "letter-square" under 
conditions of number of letters and time of presentation that preclude a 
perfect score, has been used for two principal purposes: (i) to study the 
mental imagery (Binet et Henri,^ Toulouse,^ Cohn,^ Segal,*) ; and (2) to test 
mental ability (Binet,° Sharp,* Winch'). The test is standardized for the 
former purpose by Titchener* ; for the latter by Whipple.* It has also been 
used for the study of the relation of attention to memory (Smith*"). The 
letter-square, or, more precisely, the letter-rectangle usually contains 12 letters 
in three horizontal rows, and is presented from 10 to 20 seconds. Our test 
(see p. 80) is similar to Whipple's and follows Cohn, Smith, and Segal: 
i2-consonant-rectangles exposed 10" ; reproduction after a free interval of 10". 



* Binet et Henri : La psychologic individuelle. Annee Psych. 1895. 2 :436ff. 

* Toulouse : Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la superiorite 
intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. (Zola). 1896. P. 182. 

^Cohn: Experimentelle Untersuchungen iiber das Zusammenwirken des 
akustisch-motorischen und des visuellen Gedachtnisses. Zeits. f. Psych. 1897. 
15:162. 

* Segal : Ueber den Reproductionstypus und das Reproduzieren von Vor- 
stellungen. Archiv f . d. ges. Psych. 1908. I2:i33ff. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE iSi 

This is a fairly simple exercise, like most of the other standard 
"Mental Tests," yet it, too, may evoke quite different processes 
in the various reagents, and may become several different tasks 
even to the same individual. 

The effect of practice on the processes involved was described 
some pages back (pp. 94ff.). ^n the discussion of training re- 
sults. Here v^e have to do with fairly initial abilities, except 
in the final tests of Rt. and SI., who trained on this work, in 
which variability shows itself freely. 

The reagents attempted the task by: 

(a) Reading in vertical columns of 3 letters. 

(b) Reading in lines of four letters (the general method). 

I ) Rote repetition, over and over, for kinaesthetic- 

auditory impression. 
2 ) Fewer repetitions, apperceptive ; grouping of letters, 

rhythm, 

3) Visual impression; intensified or casual. 

4) Associating letters. ^°^ 

a) by sound, rhyme. 

b) by form (e.g., VWYM, CGQ). 

c) by alphabetic position (BC, KL, XZ). 

d) by signification; favorite form, initials, 

abbreviations, words, etc. (DV, deo 
volente; SFTR, San Francisco Teddie 
Roosevelt, or sifter). 

^ Binet : Attention et adaptation. Annee Psych. 1899. 6 :324ff. 

" Sharp : Individual psychology : A study in psychological method. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1899. 10 -.353. 

' Winch : Immediate memory in school children. I. Visual. Br. Jr. Psych. 
1904. I :i28. 

^ Titchener : Experimental psychology. 1901. Vol. I. Part II. Instructor's 
Manual. 396ff. 

''Whipple: Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. Test 38, B. 368. 

^^ Smith : Relation of attention to memory. Mind. 1895. N.S. 4:47ff. 

^°^ For advantage of logical connections, vid. Balaban : Zeits. f. Psych. 56: 
356-377, 379-400. For agreement of these results with others, vid. Smith: 
op. cit. p. 57; Cohn: op. cit. pp. I78ff. ; Segal: op. cit. S. 160; and Michotte et 
Ransy (Contribution a I'etude de la memoire logique. fitudes de Psychol. 
1912. 1:72-81). Calkins (Psych. Rev. 5:460) found the tendency to combine 
unrelated concrete words in four-fifths of her 52 reagents; three-tenths of 
the words, chosen to prevent natural combinations, were forced through 
imagery into some sort of relation. 



152 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

To illustrate: 

(a) Continuous repetition of the first line and the 
P H Q K first column, on the accompanying 12- 
D S T N letter-rectangle, yielded 15 points (Le.) ; 
L G R F or of the first two lines, 22 points (Rt). 

(b) Repetition of letters in lines, by pairs, yielded 

20 points (Le.). 

(c) Repetition of the first two lines; visual 

image of the last line on the forehead, gave 
24 points (SI.). 

(d) Wholly representative (Phone quick, long 

distance, lograft) gave 36 points, a perfect 
score (Cr.). 

Clearly those four methods involve different kinds of work, 
besides yielding different scores. 

Reproduction was usually in combined imagery; the more 
common being, kinaesthetic-auditory, but often also auditory, 
visual, and representative (associations), upon the same letters. 
Then different letters were sometimes assigned to the different 
forms of imagery so that their cooperation yielded more letters 
than could be reprodued by combining on the same letters. Some- 
times only the imagery representative of the letters was 
prominent; i.e., but little imagery of the letters, when associations 
for them were used. 

Some of the reagents made radical changes in their methods 
in the final tests: Mn., Cr., Ms., and Bt., changed to much 
greater use of associations; Le. from more rapid repetition, 
over and over, to a single apperceptive repetition and the use 
of associations. 

Other reagents retained their old methods : 

Rt., who trained on this work, repeated the first six letters 
for reproduction from kinaesthetic imagery ; the next two letters 
were assigned to a visual association, or were reinforced for a 
visual recall, and the last line casually observed for visual recall 
to be recorded first while retaining the more vivid imagery to 
be recorded later. 

SI., who also trained on this work, repeated the first two lines 
for kinaesthetic recall, and fixed the last line by associations, 
with meaning, or by visual imagery, which was very unstable. 

He., Ly., and Wf. made forming associations a method. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE iS3 

Al, sought to get a kinaesthetic-auditory impression of the 
whole card. 

Initial efficiency ranged from 15.5 to 27.3 points, classifying 

the reagents into four groups: 2y, 22, 18, 16. 

Improvement upon initial efficiency, for the reagents whose 
methods remained practically the same, was : 





Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Group I. 


He. 7 






Group 2. 


Ly. 26 


Wf. 8 




Group 3. 


SI. 45 
Rt. 44 
Al. 4 







Group 4. Ed. 12.3 

Ly.'s is the only score that invites speculation. Her method 
was to form associations, and her improvement is due to doubling 
her facility in forming them ; this differs greatly from improve- 
ment in vivifying impression and heightening the power of 
recall of imagery, which contributed to the improvement of Rt. 
and SI., and seems in no way to depend upon her training in 
simple reaction. In her method variability is greater than might 
at first be supposed : In the final test, although the material 
presented was the same as that of the first test, (a) different 
letters were chosen for the associations, and (b) when the same 
letters were chosen the associations were sometimes different 
(DZ dizzy, Diaz; WSH wash, Washington). Facility in form- 
ing associations varied greatly, irrespective of material, even 
within the same test ; e.g., in the first test, Ly. began with form- 
ing associations as a method, and by the fourth experiment had 
made a perfect score by holding all the letters in associations, 
but when the 7th card, used in the above illustration, was ex- 
posed, she could find no associations for the letters and was 
reduced to repeating them in pairs, making a score of 10 points, 
(half her average). In her first test 48% of her recorded letters 
were held in associations, in her final, 90% were so held. 

Change in method was advantageous (improvements being: 
Group 2. Cr. 26%; Group 3. Mn. 64%, Bt. 27%; Group 4. 
Ms. 48%, Le. 14%), sometimes more than any other circum- 
stance; as is well illustrated in the case of Ms., a control reagent, 
who, although her initial ability was but a little below theirs, 



154 /0//iV EDGAR COOVER 

showed greater improvement than was made by either of the 
two reagents who trained on this work i8 days. 

An interesting effect of the training on this work is found 
in the resuhs of Rt. and SI, in comparison with the results of 
others, obtained on additional experiments in this test, three 
in which numerals were exposed, and one in which commercial 
signs were exposed : These reagents carried over their method, 
as recorded above, to the numerals, changing from 4-place and 
2-place grouping, respectively, and made 83% and 70% improve- 
ment (while the other reagents ranged from loss to 55% im- 
provement), and this improvement is greater than was made 
with the consonants upon which they trained. To the commercial 
signs, the method was absolutely unfitted, and they alone lost 
in the scores of the final test (Rt. 7%, SI. 17%), SI., whose 
method was the more mechanical, losing the most.^"^ 

The chief factors of improvement in this test were : 

(a) More adequate method. 

(b) Better coordination of the kinaesthetic, auditory, and 
visual modes of imagery, and assigning them to different material 
rather than permitting them to merely support each other in 
making vivid a smaller number of letters. 

(c) Better impression and recall through each kind of 
imagery. 

(d) More use of associations. 

(e) Associations more apperceptive. 

(14.) Same. With Distraction 

Distraction in learning consonants visually presented in letter-rectangles 
has usually been applied to the period of perception (Smith/ Cohn/ Segaf) 
and has consisted in counting, adding, or intoning a vowel sound; occasion- 
ally the distraction has been applied to the interval between perception and 
reproduction (Bingham,* Finzi^). In our test (see p. 80) the reagent was 
required to add digits pronounced by the experimenter during the interval 
between perception and reproduction, and to write down the sum before 
he began recording his letters. 



' Smith : op. cit., 47ff. 

* Cohn : op. cit., 162. 

"Segal: op. cit., 133. 

^ Bingham : Memory, II. Psych. Rev., 1894, i :453ff- 

'Finzi: Zur Untersuchung der Auffassungsfahigkeit und Merkfahigkeit. 

Psych. Arbeiten, 1899-1901, 3:295. 
*"* Cf. Sleight, op. cit., pp. 440, et seq. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 155 

Interpolation of processes, as usual, again increases variability 
in processes and results. 

In the preceding test attention could be given, during the 
lo-second interval between impression and recording, to the 
retention and fixing of the letters; in this, a variable division of 
the attention takes place between retention and adding, resulting 
in a further important source of variation beyond those of the 
preceding test. 

(a) The adding may be carried on either in visual imagery, 
or auditory imagery, partial sums being kinaesthetically imaged 
or repeated, while the attention shifts quickly^^'^ to the verbal or 
other imagery from which the recall of the letters is sought to 
be made. 

(b) The whole attention may be given to the adding in the 
interval while the numbers are pronounced. 

(c) Or, attention may be given to further fixing the imagery 
of the letters for surer recall, and turn with leisure and con- 
fidence to the auditory images of the numbers after they have 
all been pronounced. 

The first method is apt to lead to incorrect sums and to great 
decrease in the score ; the second to correct sums, but to decrease 
in the score; the third to correct sums, if auditory imagery 
is fair, and to a good score. 

Variability is further increased by the varying degrees of 
conflict between the part-processes. Difficulty in adding, using 
the first method above, dispersed clear imagery, because of 
confusion of mind it occasioned (Le.). Both kinaesthetic and 
visual imagery were interfered with, when the second method 
was used (Rt.). Associations escaped when they were merely 
verbal, because of the conflict with kinaesthetic impressions in 
pronouncing the partial sums (Ly. He.). 

Since recall is surer from associations than from imagery of 
the letters,!^^ almost all reagents resorted to them, but with 

"'Smith (Mind. N.S. 4:66) found that the attention of his reagents, who 
were set to learning the letters while adding, oscillated between the two 
tasks. 

*"In the preceding experiment, when letters had heen fixed in an associa- 
tion, no further attention was given to them, the interval being filled with 



156 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

varying facility. Not only the readiness to form associations 
was variable, but selection of such kinds of associations as 
involve more apperception was variable, and, consequently, 
retention of associations was variable. 

The whole association may be lost; or by a slight cue may 
yield its quota to the score. The following will illustrate how 
near a o score is to a score of loo^, when associations are used: 
A reagent gave full attention to adding during the interval, 
recorded a correct sum, and found that he could not recall a 
trace of his associations or even a letter; after a moment, weak 
kinaesthetic imagery brought back the association of the first 
two letters; then in recording these, associative connections 
grew stronger and the associations all returned (led by meaning 
rather than by verbal imagery), and a perfect score was 
produced (Cr.). 

An association may be recalled, however, and be either untrust- 
worthy or useless, because of the absence of further imagery 
relating the letters definitely to it. The influence of the imagery 
is seen in the record of VNWY from the associated word 
"Vanity"; Van(it)y; the substitution of "W" for "it" was held 
in visual imagery (Cr.). The adding was often fatal to this 
imagery as may be seen from the failure of "North Buckham" 
to produce NRT BKYM by producing NTH, thus yielding the 
lowest score of the series (Cr. ). 

None of the reagents were constant in their methods, and 
initial ability ranged from 8.3 points to 19.5. Distraction ranged 
from 15% to 60%. 



effort to retain by repeating letters held in less sure imagery. At the begin- 
ning of the first test, here, the reagent said : "I rested my attention on the 
last column more than on any other, but the second seemed to form a word; 
I retained the latter and could not remember the former." (Mn.). This con- 
forms with the findings of Balaban {op. cit.) that associative learning was 
eight times more effective than mechanical memorization, and of Arnold (The 
initial tendency in ideal revival. Am. Jr. Psych., 1907, 18:251) that recall is 
insured by a more closely organized disposition, a better developed meaning, 
a more complete organic whole. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I57 

(15) Word-Completion 

This test (see p. 8of.) is an application of Ebbinghaus'^ "Completion Test" 
to words, and differs from Whipple's'' "Word-building" test in greatly limiting 
the possible combinations. It involves equivocal reproduction or controlled 
association, and was designed to measure a narrow type of inventive or im- 
aginative power. 

Some of the reagents completed the Hst in less than 100 
seconds; others left it unfinished in 300. The process differed 
greatly, especially with respect to the 'Aufgabe.' All reagents 
sounded the consonants phonetically, interpolating between them 
indefinite vowel sounds, until a word was called up by the 
kinaesthetic-auditory cue. Upon a hitch in getting a word, 
some of the reagents (Le., Rt., Cr., Ms., Wf.) started 
systematically sounding definitely the various vowels, taking 
them in order, between the first pair of consonants. Only 
once did the visual form suggest a word (Rt.). 

Although instructions were clearly given to add letters any- 
where to complete a word, only twice did an added letter 
precede the first consonant (Ly., Ms.), and occasionally the 
reagents otherwise limited their task, e.g., Le. and Ms., after 
their experience in the first test, limited additions in the final 
test to the two spaces between consonants, and failed to com- 
plete the ten words within the 5-minute time-limit; He., in his 
first test, limited himself in the first few words to the space 
between the first pair of consonants, and after leaving an 
incomplete word and properly assigning himself to other spaces 
in completing following words, he returned to it, again limiting 
himself as before. 

Since the difficulty of the task depends upon the 'Aufgabe,' 
which the reagent holds in his mind, it is obvious that quan- 
titative results, without adequate introspection, are without 
value. Even with adequate introspection, there is no way to 
equate results when the processes are greatly different. 

The test is of value in showing how, under precisely the same 



* Ebbinghaus : Ueber eine neue Methode zur Priifung geistiger Fahigkeiten 
und ihre Anwendung bei Schulkindern. Zeits. f. Psych., 1897, I3:40iff. ; also 
Whipple's Test 48, p. 445ff. 

* Whipple: Manual of mental and physical tests, 1910, Test 27, pp. 44iff. 



158 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

instructions and external conditions, different reagents vary- 
widely (a) in the task to be performed, and (b) in the processes 
they use to carry out a similar task. 

(i6) Trains of Ideas 

The mental processes involved in free reproduction or uncontrolled asso- 
ciation made early contribution to experimental psychology. They furnished 
Galton/ as he walked along Pall Mall and noted the ideas that came into 
his mind as he scrutinized successive objects that caught his eyes, material 
which he learned to subject to measurement. They are, of course, employed 
for mental diagnosis in the famous "word-association" test; and they have 
been employed in unbroken series of from lo to lOO words* for the study 
of association (Cattell and Bryant'), of effect of immediate environment 
upon association (Flournoy^), of community of ideas of men and women 
(Jastrow, " ' Nevers," Calkins,^ Tanner,*), of individual differences in mental 
processes (Secor," Binet") ; but they have also been used in unbroken series 
for determining rate of mental activity (Wissler," Thompson," Brown"). 
In our test (see p. 8i) 2-minute series were written after the stimulus 
words : "horse," "potato," "flute." 

Since most of the individual scores run up to about the 
maximum speed in writing, it may be presumed that in this 
test, when the ideas are recorded by the reagent, reproduction 
is seriously limited by recording. Even were the phrases and 



^Galton: Psychometric experiments. Brain. 1879-1800. 2:151. 

' Vid. Whipple : Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. Test 2>2>, PP- 
3i3ff. 

'Cattell and Bryant: Mental association investigated by experiment. Mmd. 
1889. 14 :23off. 

* Flournoy : De Taction du milieu sur I'ideation. Annee Psych. 1894. 
I :i8off. 

'Jastrow: A study in mental statistics. New Review. 1891. 5 :S59ff- 

* Nevers : Dr. Jastrow on community of ideas of men and women. Psych 
Rev. 1895. 2 :363ff. 

^Jastrow: Community of ideas of men and women. Psych. Rev. 1896 
3:68ff. 

* Calkins: Community of ideas of men and women. Psych. Rev. 1896 
3 :426ff. 

' Tanner : The community of ideas of men and women. Psych. Rev. 1896, 

3 :548ff. 

'"Secor: Visual reading: A study in mental imagery. Am. Jr. Psych 
1899-1900. ii:225ff. 

" Binet : L'fitude experimental de I'intelligence. 1903. P. 309- 

"Wissler: Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psych. Rev. Mon. 
1901. 3 : No. 6, p. 8. 

"Thompson: Psychological norms in men and women. Univ. Chicago 
Contrib. to Phil. 1903. Pp. looff. 

" Brown : Some experimental results in correlation of mental abilities. 
Br. Jr. Psych. 1910. 3:306. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE i59 

words Spoken, the process would be similarly limited in speed. 
Scores, therefore, do not so much show rapidity of reproduction 
as rapidity of expression and regularity of reproduction. And 
since the whole field of the reagent's experience is available 
for reproduction, with all the grades of Hability for recall, 
variation in regularity is inevitable ; nor does it seem that variable 
attention rather than direction of 'leads' into various fields 
of experience is the greater cause of variation. 

Initial efficiency ranged from 55 to 100 ideas for the six 
minutes. 

Qualitatively, some interesting facts were presented : 

(a) The 'Aufgabe' was not the same for all reagents, 
although instructions and external conditions of the experiment 
were uniform. The usual method was to begin with the idea 
suggested by the stimulus-word and follow the course suggested 
by the last word until new 'leads' would develop from some 
prominent member of the last series, or 'story,' thus intro- 
ducing a new 'story,' etc. But SI. bound himself to record 
only ideas related directly to the stimulus-word, and gave 
second place to the suggestion of recorded ideas; and Wf. fol- 
lowed an intermediate course approaching closely Sl.'s method. 

(b) Most of the reagents find that of the flood of memories 
and images only a few, usually the most prominent, can be 
recorded. 

(c) The 'stories' from which the constellations of ideas are 
chosen for recording are related to various periods of the 
reagent's experience and tend to fall upon the same periods 
of experience, for all stimulus-words given in one sitting, but 
upon different periods for the same stimulus-word given upon 
different days. This merely indicates i) the organization of 
experience, in cross-section; and 2) the flux of experience, in 
longitudinal-section. Ms. in her first test drew mainly upon 
experience of her childhood; in her final test, upon those of 
recent years and days, 

(d) The remote and recent experiences are sometimes drawn 
upon in the same minute, due to the prominence of identical 
factors in their memories; emotional or cognitive. 



t6o JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

■(e) Anxiety about one's work, or great interest in an event, 
leads all trains of ideas to that center of interest, even when 
approaches are repeatedly inhibited (Cr., Le.). This shows 
how efficient the selective influences are, in the control of the 
central elements of consciousness. Monomania would seem 
to be but an exaggeration of this natural process. In this case 
the control seems to be given over to the emotional set of 
consciousness.^^^ 

(17) Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention. Free 

The number of letters that can be apprehended in a momentary exposure 
of a rectangle containing from 6 to 12 letters has been thought to constitute 
a measure of the "extensive threshold of attention" (Wundt^) or the number 
of elements that can be simultaneously grasped by consciousness. The time 
of presentation is usually about o.i seconds, less than the eye-reaction time, 
in order to limit apprehension to a single fixation of vision ; but owing to the 
persistence of the after-image for about 0.25 seconds (Schumann,^ Hylan,' 
Messmer*") and to the visual memory after-image that may appear a few 
seconds later (Schumann^), the attention may fluctuate successively over the 
elements so held, thus augmenting unduly the measure of the threshold of 
attention and relating it to the 'memory-span' for successively presented let- 
ters. Wundt' warns the reagent to avoid this error through introspectively 
distinguishing between the simultaneous and the successive activities. The 
test has been used to measure visual perception and attention (Griffing*) or 
the range of visual attention (Whipple^). In our test 12-consonant-rectangles 
were presented for about o.i sec. (85 sigma) ; reproduction was required 
after a free interval of 5 seconds (see p. 81). 



* Wundt: Grundriss der Psychologic. lote Auf. 1911. Sec. 15, Par. 6 (pp. 
254ff.) ; also Grundziige der Physiologischen Psychologie. 5te Auf. 1902. 
111:35 Iff. 

^ Schumann : Die Erkennung von Buchstaben und Worten bei momentaren 
Beleuchtung. Bericht u.d. I. Kongress f. Exp. Psych. 1904. 34-40; also 
Psychologie des Lesens. Bericht u.d. II. Kongress f. Exp. Psych. 1906. 
S. 174- 

* Hylan : The distribution of the attention. Psych. Rev. 1903. 10:373, 
498. 

, ^" Messmer : Zur Psychologie des Lesens bei Kindern und Erwachsenen. 
Archiv f. d. ges. Psych. 1903-4, Bd. 2, S. 206. 

*Griffing: On the development of visual perception and attention. Am. 
Jr. Psych. 1895. 7:277ff. 

"Whipple: Effect of practice upon range of visual attention and of visual 
apprehension. Jr. Ed. Psych. 1910. i :249ff. 

^""This test furnishes a good diagnosis of the reagent's experience at the 
time it is taken. Repeated tests would make it quite possible to characterize 
the reagent's mental life. A person could not in a briefer or more efficient 
way keep a diary of his real interests than by this two-minute test, accom- 
panied by a commentary. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE i6i 

Analysis of processes involved in the work of this test was 
made under the head of Training Results, some pages back 
(pp. 82ff.) ; only a general indication of the fact of variability 
of processes, therefore, need be made here. 

(a) The field of the attention may vary from the whole card 
to a line or to a few spaces. In the first case, vague imagery 
makes up the bulk of the material dealt with; in the second, 
both clear and vague are entertained; in the third, only clear 
imagery. 

(b) The type of imagery may determine the process: If the 
visual impression is immediately converted into kinaesthetic or 
kinaesthetic-auditory imagery, reproduction is largely limited to 
letters clearly seen; if the visual impression is held for a while, 
before being converted, more dimly seen letters become fixed. 

(c) If the attitude toward vague imagery is encouraging, 
some unrecognizable imagery 'matures' into letters, the record 
of which the score often justifies. 

(d) If, in recall, disparate imagery supplements itself on sepa- 
rate letters, more letters are recorded. 

(e) Some distraction seemed peculiar to the test: Readiness 
of the naming process was not at times satisfactory because 
of low reproductivity of the letter-names; to some reagents 
some combinations of letters were retarding because of the non- 
euphonious pronunciation of their names ; to some, special letters 
(significant or disagreeable) retarded the process; several times 
exposures were completely missed by winking. 

Introspections show that the process varied with each reagent 
in each test, and sometimes considerably between tests. 

There was a general effort to convert the visual impression 
or visual imagery into kinaesthetic imagery or impression (in- 
cipient pronunciation) ; this conversion reduces reproduction to 
a 'rote' process, which doubtless is the line of least resistance 
in memorizing. Introspection says : "First the imagery is very 
intense, visual, which I convert into kinaesthetic (verbal) ; then 
I repeat rapidly, almost as one word, and this is accompanied 
by weak visual imagery. Then I seem to feel sure of the 
letters — they seem to lie on my tongue and are less full of 
meaning than at first" (Rt.). "After repeating letters I felt 
confident that I had them; they would not fly away" (Wf.). 



i62 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

In practice, the moment of this conversion was adjusted by 
the necessity of fixing many distinct impressions before they 
got away, and the necessity of permitting thern to mature more 
clearly in order to be either cognized or held in visual imagery 
in sufficiently stable form to remain while fixing others by 
naming. The shifting of this moment was necessitated by 
the varying grades of clearness of the imagery, and inexpert 
shifting was fatal to the score. Better coordination of processes 
here resulted through practice, and variation in methods as 
indicated above must be credited with considerable variation 
between individual reagents, resultant upon this particular 
practice effect. 

Initial capacities varied in average scores from 4.1 to 9.1 
points (3 points to a correctly placed letter), and divide the 
reagents into four groups: 9, 8, 6, 5. 

Improvement in per cent upon initial capacity, for the reagents 
who retained in their final tests their old methods, was: 





Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Group I. 


He. 


12 






Group 2. 


Le. 
Rt. 


58 
10 


Wf. 21 


Ty. 4 


Group 3. 


Al. 
Cr. 


45 
42 






Group 4. 


SI. 
Ly. 


25 
14 







Al. differed from the other reagents in attending consistently 
to the whole card. 

Three reagents made radical changes in their processes in 
the final test: Mn., who trained 18 days on this work; and 
Ms. a control reagent, changed from attending to the whole 
card to attending to limited parts of it, usually the first line. 
Dn. changed from intentionally varied methods in the first test, 
involving attending to the whole card, limiting the field in 
various ways, and closing one eye and then the other to see if 
a clearer impression could not be obtained, to a regular method 
of restricting the field and of binocular vision. These changes 
were advantageous: Group 4. Mn. 147%, Ms. 47%; Group 5. 
Dn. 39%. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 163 

That great difference in the score results from variation in 
the extent of the field attended to, is illustrated by individual 
scores made by Ms. in her first test. In the first six experiments, 
with attention upon the whole card, she made no score above 
4 points; in the last four experiments, with the field restricted 
to the upper right-hand corner, she made no score below 8 
points. Mn.'s great gain is based upon those six experiments, 
for the averages of the scores of the last four experiments in her 
first test is higher than the average of either the last four or all 
of the experiments of her final test. 

The results of this test offer several anomalies which indicate 
the futility of merely quantitative treatment of work of this 
kind. Ms., a control reagent, shows greater gain than does 
AL, who trained on this work for 8 days; besides (a) the 
difference in capacity, indicative of difference in kind of work, 
(b) the gain is exaggerated by the per cent being reckoned 
upon lower initial capacity. Wf., a control reagent, shows a 
greater per cent of gain than He. ; although their initial capacities 
are not so unlike, this excess of gain is illusory, since in 
absolute gain He. excells, and from He.'s greater initial capacity, 
it is conceivable, improvement is more difficult to make. 

Cr. and possibly He. are the only reagents who appear to 
have brought to the test any advantage from their training; 
both improved more than the other reagents who did not train 
in this work, in regular performance indicative of more constant 
conditions of attention. 

(18) Same. With Distraction 

Adding four digits during an interval of 5 seconds between 
perception and recording is a doubtful distraction, ranging from 
o to 59%. It was but negligible for Mn. in both tests; for 
SI., Ly., and Dn. in the first test, and for He. and Al. in the 
final test; and it varied between the two tests considerably for 
all the reagents except Mn., Cr., and Ty. 

The chief cause of variation in the scores (initial capacity 
ranged from 3.2 to 6.9 points, and final capacity from 2.8 to 
1 1.4 points) was the conflict between the visual or kinaesthetic- 



i64 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

auditory imagery in which the letters were being held and the 
kinaesthetic imagery of the partial sums in adding. Where dis- 
traction was overcome, the usual method was to quickly name 
the letters and thus fix them in kinaesthetic imagery, and add 
the numerals at leisure from auditory images after they had 
all been pronounced. 

(19) Tapping 

Tapping as rapidly as possible during an interval of from 5 seconds to 2 
minutes, with a pencil, stilus, or telegraph key, has served as a test for vol- 
untary motor ability and, with the longer intervals, for fatigue (Bryan,* 
Dresslar,^ Gilbert,' Moore,* Binet et Vaschide,° Kirkpatrick,* Bagley,' Bolton,' 
Kelly,' Thompson," Burt," Wells"), and has been standardized by 
Wells** and Whipple." Our test follows Wells : 5 series of 30", with 2.5' 
rests. {Vid. p. 81 f.). 

Maximum rate of voluntary activity as expressed in tapping 
on a Morse key (adjusted as preferred by telegraph operators — 
I mm. amplitude, 50-gram tension) seems a very simple process. 
But our results show it to be variable and to depend upon other 
important factors besides attention and fatigue. 

Results gave the "Total Efficiency" (average number of taps 



* Bryan: On the development of voluntary motor ability. Am. Jr. Psych. 
1892. 5:i23ff. 

^ Dresslar : Some influences which affect rapidity of voluntary movements. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1892. 4:5i4ff. 

' Gilbert : Researches on the mental and physical development of school- 
children. Studies from Yale Psych. Lab. 1894. 2 148. 

* Moore : Studies of fatigue. Studies from Yale Psych. Lab. 1895. 3 :92ff. 
° Binet et Vaschide : Experiences de vitesse chez les jeunes gens. Annee 

Psych. 1897. 4:20off; also fipreuves de vitesse chez les jeunes garqons. 
ibid. 64ff. 

* Kirkpatrick : Individual tests of school children. Psych. Rev. 1900. 

7:274ff. 

'Bagley: On the correlation of mental and motor ability in school children. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1900-1. I2:i95ff. 

' Bolton : Relation of motor power to intelligence. Am. Jr. Psych. 1903. 

14 :354. 

® Kelly : Psychophysical tests of normal and abnormal children ; a compara- 
tive study. Psych. Rev. 1903. io:345ff. 

'" Thompson : Psychological norms in men and women. Univ. Chicago 
Contrib. to Phil. 1903. 4: No. i. I2ff. 

" Burt : Experimental tests of general intelligence. Br. Jr. Psych. 1909. 
3-132. 

*^ Wells: A neglected measure of fatigue. Am. Jr. Psych. 1908. I9:345ff. 

" Wells : Normal performance in the tapping test. ibid. 347-483. 

" Whipple : Manual of mental and physical tests. 1910. Test 10, pp. looff. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 165 

per series of 30 seconds), and the "Fatigue Index" (found by 
dividing the average of the last five intervals of 5 seconds 
each, of the first series, by the number of taps in the first 
interval of 5 seconds). 

The manner of tapping varied between the different reagents, 
virith respect to the parts of the arm, forearm, wrist, hand, 
and fingers, put in vibration, with respect to the amplitude 
of vibration, the manner of grasping the key, the amount of 
innervation and bodily tension, determination to resist fatigue, 
and accompanying psychial processes, such as counting the taps 
in groups. And it varied, in a less degree, in an individual 
reagent's work. 

"Total Efficiency" ranged from 176.8 to 245.8, in the first 
test, and reagents fall into five groups: 246, 218, 205, 198, 180. 

Change in per cent of initial capacity, was as follows : 





Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Group I. 


Rt. -1.5 






Group 2. 


He. s-o 






Group 3. 


SI. 3.2 
Cr. 3.2 
Le. -0.2 
Ly. -2.6 
Mn. -3.3 


Ms. -1.3 




Group 4. 




Wf. -1.2 




Group 5. 






Me. 0.6 
Wx. 1.2 



The changes in the table may indicate changes in fatigue, 
since objective fatigue is said to increase the time,^^^ and the 
test is recommended as a measure of fatigue ;^^^ they may indi- 
cate changes in the capacity of attention which opposes fatigue; 
or they may be due to both these causes as modified by others. 

That the last conjecture is sometimes true is shown by the 
results of Rt., Le., and SI. Rt.'s practice curves of the two 
tests are precisely the converse of each other; his first curve 
shows great practice-effect in the second series, reaching a 
maximum in the third series; his final curve begins with 
phenomenal speed (267), loses greatly in the second series, 

"" Moore : Yale Studies, 3 :95. 
*" Wells: Am. Jr. Psych., 19:344. 



i66 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

reaching minimum in the third series, Le.'s curves are similar 
but show less practice-effect and loss. Sl.'s final 'fatigue curve' 
is inverted, differing from all others in showing marked practice- 
effect up to the fourth interval. Unfortunately, introspections 
are not sufficiently full to indicate the causes of these variations. 

Usually the two practice curves of a reagent are similar: 
Both show practice-effect in the cases of five reagents (Mn., SI., 
Cr., Ms., Wx.) ; no practice-effect in the case of four reagents 
(Le., Ly., He., Wf.) ; and loss in the case of one reagent (Me.). 

Susceptibility to fatigue, as is inversely indicated by the 
"Fatigue Index" (see p. 82), ranged from 87 to 97, placing 
the reagents into three groups: 95, 90, 85. Complete resistance 
to fatigue would be 100. 

Per cent of change in resistance to fatigue was: 





Regular 


1st Control 


2d Control 


Group I. 


SI. 18.5 
Le. -9.5 


Ms. -5.1 
Wf. -1 1.7 


Wx. -1.9 


Group 2. 


Ly. 5.6 
Cr. I.I 
He. -44 
Rt. -54 




Me. -i.o 


Group 3. 


Mn. -3.5 







The agreement between the two tables showing the "state" 
of fatigue and the "susceptibility" to fatigue in the cases of 
Mn., Le., Rt., SI., Cr., Ms., and Wf. indicates a reliability for 
the test as a measure of fatigue which is supported, in part at 
least, by the fact that the final tests were taken at the end of 
the school-year when most of the reagents could be expected 
to be working under greater fatigue than when the first tests 
were taken. 

But there are disturbing influences : He. gained 5 % in "Total 
Efficiency" and lost 4.4% in resistance to fatigue; Ly. lost 2.6% 
in "Total Efficiency" and gained 5.6% in resistance to fatigue; 
SI. gains in both, but made in his final test the remarkable 
"Fatigue Index" of 115, which is supported by his remarkable 
'fatigue curve' drawn from the averages of the respective 
intervals in all series of the final test, which shows a marked 
practice-effect. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 167 

No relation between the results of this test and the training 
or improvement in attention is evident. 

f. Extent of Variability 

In the preceding analyses of processes it was shown (a) 
that in almost every test individual reagents differed from each 
other, often greatly, in the way in which they performed the 
work of the test;^^^ and (b) that it is the rule for the individual 

^"That individual variation in kind of mental work performed, when re- 
agents set themselves to the same objective task, is not peculiar to the material 
or the method of our tests, may be seen by inspecting any report of investiga- 
tion in which the mental processes of the different reagents are subjected to 
analysis. The contributions to individual psychology and the studies of 
"imagery type," as has already been noted (foot-note to p. 69), reveal this 
qualitative variability in every class of mental activity. To select a few typical 
references for further explication, it is shown specifically in discrimination 
of clangs (Whipple: An analytical study of the memory image and the 
process of judgment in the discrimination of clangs and tones. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1901. 12:425-433, 448-452) ; in memory for sounds of familiar things, 
presented by a graphophone (Kuhlmann: On the analysis of auditory mem- 
ory consciousness. Am. Jr. Psych. 1909. 20:i94ff), in memory for mean- 
ingless visual forms (Kuhlmann : On the analysis of the memory 
consciousness. Psych. Rev. 1906. I3:3i6ff), in memory for nonsense-sylla- 
bles (Miiller und Schumann: Experimentelle Beitrage zur Untersuchung des 
Gedachtnisses. Zeits. f. Psych. 1894. 6 :303-5 ; Pentschew : Untersuchungen 
zur Okonomie und Technik des Lernens. Archiv f. d. ges. Psych. 1903. 
1 :4i7ff ; Ebert und Meumann : Ueber einige Grundfragen der Psychologie der 
Uebungsphanomene im Bereiche des Gedachtnisses. Archiv f. d. ges. Psych. 
1904. 4:iff; von Sybel : Ueber das Zusammenwirken verschiedener Sinnesge- 
biete bei Gedachtnisleistungen. Zeits. f. Psych. 1909. 53:327ff), in memory for 
various material (Bingham: Memory. Psych. Rev. 1894 i:46iff; Whitehead: 
A study in visual and aural processes. Psych. Rev. 1896. 3 :258ff ; Gamble : 
Study in memorizing various materials by the reconstruction method. Psych. 
Rev. Mon. 1909. No. 43); in word-association (Galton: Psychometric ex- 
periments. Brain. 1879-80. 2:158; Calkins: Short studies in memory and in 
association. Psych. Rev. 1898. 5:460; Mayer und Orth : Zur qualitativen 
Untersuchung der Association. Zeits. f. Psych. 1901. 26: 1-13; Wreschner : 
Die reproduktion and Assoziation von Vorstellungen. Zeits. f. Psych. Erg. 
Bd. 3, 1907, S. 86ff; Koffka: Ueber Vorstellungen. 1911) ; in imagery of 
things (Philippe: Un recensement d'images mentales. Rev. Philos. 1897. 
44:510; Lay: Mental imagery experimentally and subjectively considered. 
Psych. Rev. Mon. 1898. No. 7 ; Slaughter : A preliminary study of mental 
images. Am. Jr. Psych. 1902. 13 :526ff) ; in spelling (Abbott : On the analysis 
of the memory consciousness in orthography. Psych. Rev. Mon. 1909. No. 



i68 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

reagent to vary his processes while at work on a test and often 
to radically change, in the final test, the methods of work 
employed in the first.^^^ What the variations in processes were 
has been shown in some detail. 

Some indication of the extent of radical change in method 
may be indicated by the following table which lists the cases 
of such change when it occurred between the first and final tests : 



Tests 


I 


2 


3 


4 


5 


8 


9 


10 


13 


17 


Total 


No. of reagents 


II 


12 


12 


12 


II 


lO 


12 


12 


12 


12 


ii6 


No. Changed 


6 


5 


4 


O 


2 


6 


4 


8 


5 


3 


43 



The table shows that in the ten tests in which the results were 
the more regular, of ii6 difference-scores 43 (35%) "^ere 
affected by change in methods between the first and final tests. 

The changes are distributed over the reagents as follows: 
Regular— Mn. 5, Le. 5, Rt. i, SI. 2, Ly. 3, He. 3, Cr. 4, Al. i ; 
I St Control — Ms. 8, Wf. 4; 2d Control reagents — 3, and 4; 
which indicates that some reagents are more prone than others 
to radically change their methods of work. 

Introspections for some of the tests (No.'s 6, 7, 19) were not 
sufficiently full in detail to indicate what the changes were, 
although large variability among the scores of the series of 
which the tests were composed indicated that they occurred; 



44:i27ff.). For especially good analyses the reader is referred to Binet 
(L'fitude Experimentale de I'intelligence. 1903. Pp. 282, 246, 306-7), Segal 
Ueber den Reproductions Typus und das Reproduzieren von Vorstellungen. 
Archiv f.d. ges. Psych. 1908. I2:i75ff), and particularly Miiller (Zur Analyse 
der Gedachtnistatigkeit u.d. Vorstellungsverlaufes. Zeits. f. Psych. Erg. Bd. 
5, 1911 ; 8, 1913). The evidence in these references is based almost wholly 
upon analysis of adult introspections ; but it seems highly probable that 
functional variability is also extensive among children. Binet {op. cit.) found 
this true of his two daughters, and Winch (The faculty doctrine, correlation, 
and educational theory. Jr. of Phil. Psych, and Sci. Methods. 1911. 8:377) 
infers it from the fact that the coefficient of correlation was low for the 
early series of learning while it was high for the late series, a fact which 
when found by Hollingworth (Individual differences before, during and after 
practice. Psych. Rev., 1914, 21 :8) with naive adult reagents, was used to 
show "that we are not, in early trials, measuring the same thing with all 
performers." 

"* Change in processes during practice in discussed on pp. I76ff. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 169 

and the results were so extremely irregular in some of the 
other tests (No.'s 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18) that any statistical 
treatment of them seemed useless. 

The extent of variability between reagents may be shown by 
the extent of the range of initial capacity for each test. If 
this is reckoned in per cent of the lowest average (the highest 
capacity for a time-unit; the lowest for a work-unit), we get 
the following table: 



I. 


60 


5. 


86 


10. 


149 


16. 


82 


* 


135 


6. 


85 


12. 


425 


17- 


122 


2. 


150 


7. 


70 


13. 


76 


18. 


115 


3- 


204 


8. 


133 


14. 


13s 


19. 


39 


4. 


33 


9- 


133 


IS- 


452 


** 


II 



^Relative variation of reaction time. 
**Fatigue Index. 

In Test I the range of initial capacity in reaction time was 
60% of the highest capacity; in relative variabiHty 135%. In 
Test 8 the range, in memory of sounds, was 133% of the lowest 
capacity. (Uncertainty in scoring ruled out the results of 
Test II). 

The range in initial capacities is usually large. In only three 
cases is it below 50% of the lowest average; in six cases it is 
between 50% and 100%; in eight cases between 100% and 
200%; in one case 204% and in two cases over 400%. Thus, 
in over half of the tests the highest initial capacity is more than 
double the lowest.^^'* 

"* Our tests are not peculiar in showing frequent wide ranges in initial 
capacity. On p. 67 we had occasion to refer to Sleight's (op. cit. 410-411) 
test on "points" ; the range in initial capacities for the three schools is shown 
by Table I to be 27-93, 32-129, 23-132, respectively. Binet's (L'fitude experi- 
mentale de I'intelligence. 236ff) two daughters upon the test of marking out 
the letters a, e, d, r, s, from French text made initial scores of 23.1 and 53.4 
respectively; and his six dull and five bright boys upon the same test (At- 
tention et Adaptation. 364!?) ranged from 61-165 and 68-138 respectively,* 
Ebert und Meumann's (op. cit. 15, 47ff) six reagents ranged in memory span 
for numbers 5-9, in learning nonsense-syllables 13-41 presentations, note-form^ 
symbols 25-60, sickle-form symbols 33-75. Thorndike and Woodworth's 
(op. cit. 253ff, 385, 556) reagents ranged in average error in estimating areas,. 
7.7-24.2, 10.5-28, 9-21.9, 5-47-8, 12.6-47.4, 4-5-I4-7, 20.1-37.8, 23.7-62.6, etc.; and in 



170 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

Initial capacity, as the term has been used in these pages, 
denotes the average of the scores of the series of experiments 
constituting the first test. And since the results of all the tests, 
except No.'s 2, 3, 11, 15 and 16, were made up of averages 
of from four to ten scores of individual experiments or of 
series of experiments, the variation in initial capacity as here 
represented is not as great as would be shown had the initial 
scores been selected. 

The result of (a) change in processes between first and final 
tests and (b) the variability in initial capacity is a great reduc- 
tion in the strictly comparable difference-scores between the 
eight regular and the four control reagents. 

If the number of cases is selected from the tables reproduced 
in the discussion of The Test Results above (pp. io6ff.), we 
get the following table: 



Exp. 


Groups 


Group 


Regular 


1st Control 2d Control 


Tot; 


1. 


4 


2 


2 


I 





II 


a. 


6 














12 


3. 


4 


4 


4 


I 





12 


4- 


4 


I 


2 


I 


I 


12 


5. 


3 


I 


4 


I 





II 


6. 


3 


I 


I 


2 





II 






z 


5 





I 








3 


I 





I 




7. 


3 


I 


2 


I 





II 






2 


3 


I 











3 


r 





2 




8. 


4 













ID 


9. 


4 


2 


3 





I 


12 


XO: 


4 













12 


»3. 


4 


2 


I 


I 





12 


17. 


4 


2 


2 


I 


I 


12 


19. 


5 


3 


5 


I 





II 



Total 36 12 9 149 

To interpret the table, variation in initial capacity classified the reagents in 
Experiment i into 4 groups ; the only results of both regular and control 
reagents to fall within a single group were two of the regular and one of the 
1st control reagents in Group 2; 11 reagents took the test. 



"time in marking out words, 170-232, 175-306. Culler's (Interference and 
adaptability. Archives of Psych. 1912. 3: No. 24:16) nine reagents in the 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 171 

The tables of relative variation in reaction time (of Test i) 
and the "Fatigue Index" (of Test 19) are omitted in this table. 

The aggregate of cases in which the difference-scores fall 
into some group in which comparison can be made is 57 (38%) 
out of a total of 149. 

And if the averages of tests in which the results were 
sufficiently irregular to be omitted, are combined with these, 
out of a total of 21Q difference-scores we have hut 57 {26%) 
which are comparable. 

g. Causes of Variability 

The more general causes of variability in a reagent's work 
were conditions of health, relative freshness or fatigue, emo- 
tional conditions, attitude toward the work of the test, etc. 
Incidental causes occasionally occurred such as, cold hands in 
reaction tests, winking at the moment of a rapid exposure, 
accidents in manipulation of keys, or in handling pen and 
paper in recording, unusual distraction, influence of preceding 
laboratory work (He. and Wf. in reaction to sound), mental 
practice (Wf, in typewriter reaction), etc. More specific 
causes varied in accordance with the nature of the work in 
the test, but may be described in general terms as, voluntary 
or undesigned shifts of the attention to various elements of 
the processes engaged, changes in the extent of the distribution 
of the attention over part-processes and their coordination, con- 
structing of more adequate methods, and practice-effect in 
dropping out of the process unessential factors, in heightening 
sensitivity, discrimination, reproduction, habituation to distrac- 
tion, and in building up habits of higher order. 

To these causes are due the serrated aspect of the practice 
curve of a reagent in any of the tests. 

The causes of variation in the results of different reagents 
must lie in individual variation with respect to the factors 
described above, and to others in addition to them. An impor- 

first group ranged in averages of the first five experiments in the typewriting 
practice, 20.8-49; the 7 reagents of the second group, 33.2-131 ; and the 8 re- 
agents of the third group, 28-60. These few samples show the tendency which 
is likely to be found in any table of initial capacities in mental tests. 



172 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

tant place among the latter must be given to the 'Aufgabe,' 
or the task held in the mind of the reagent: Simple reaction, 
for example, may be 'sensorial' or 'muscular' ; and word- 
completion may involve self-imposed limitations; etc. 

Radically different methods of work account for large dif- 
ferences in intial capacity or in per cent of improvement (even 
when based upon equal initial ability). 

The low initial capacity of SI. in card-sorting was due to 
marked variation in kind of work from the other reagents — 
his difficult map-scheme used for discriminating the cards and 
for locating the compartments was the prime element in the 
difference. 

The low initial capacities of Ly. and SI. in the typewriter- 
reaction were owing to different work, the prime difference 
being a difficult coordination of letter and key which interfered 
with a coordination of the two parts of the process — 
discrimination, and choice of reaction. 

The radical difference between kinds of work was often 
pointed out in the discussion of Test Results and the effect 
upon the averages shown. Memory of sounds was effected by 
kinaesthetic-auditory imagery of the names, by seizing the 
series as chimes, or by associating the number-names with a 
visible series; 12-letter-rectangles were learned through a 
combination of kinaesthetic and visual imagery, or through rep- 
resentative imagery (associations). In the distraction tests 
(No.'s 14, 18) the difference in the effect of the distraction 
depended upon variable method in avoiding conflict between the 
visual or kinaesthetic imagery of the retained letters and the 
kinaesthetic imagery of the partial sums in the adding process. 
And the groups into which the reagents were classified according 
to initial ability, in the typewriter-reaction test, were shown to be 
valid by analysis of the kinds of work. 

Great difference in per cent of improvement was also often 
shown to be due to difference in kind of work. Sl.'s map-scheme 
in card-sorting and Ly.'s difficult coordination of letter and key 
in the typewriter-reaction test, prohibited rapid improvement. 
The anomalies sometimes found belong here : such as the gain 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE i73 

of Ms., a control reagent, in Test 17, which was greater than 
that of Al. who trained in the test material for 8 days, — they 
did not do the same kind of work; Al. consistently gave atten- 
tion to the whole card, Ms. to a limited part of it; and the gain 
of the same reagent (Ms.) in Test 13, which was greater than 
that of either of the two reagents who trained on the test 
material for 18 days,^ — she changed to the use of associations. 
As to the source of the more specific causes of variation, it 
lies in part in the practice on the tests themselves, in smaller 
part in the training (for the regular reagents), but in greater 
part in earlier experience. Change in the process seems to be 
effected through the selective function of the attention, by 
way of adaptation. The need of a discriminating mark for 
the cognition of the symbols on the cards was met by the 
selection of map-directions, on the part of SI., from his school- 
room experience and the relation between diameter and radius, 
on the oblique pair of cards, was selected from the geometrical 
experience of all reagents except Le. whom the pair confused; 
the schemes of classification of compartments in card-sorting, 
for Wf. and Mn., and of keys or fingers in typewriter-reaction, 
for Wf ., were adaptations of mathematical relations ; the grasp- 
ing of series of sounds as chimes, in memory of sounds, was 
an adaptation of musical experience; Ly.'s 'sensory set' of 
consciousness in typewriter-reaction was selected from her train- 
ing-effects in reaction to sound; and many other changes of 
method in the final tests were due to the selection of elements 
that had become prominent in experience since the first tests, 
often in the training of the regular reagents. 

h. The Practice Curve 

It was pointed out that the difference-scores of two reagents, 
even when initial ability had been the same, were strictly com- 
parable only upon the assumption that the respective ways of 
performing the task were equally susceptible to practice-effect. 
The fact that scores of different reagents measure different 
processes has its parallel in the fact that scores of the same 
reagent measured different processes; not only because the 



174 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

reagent changes these processes at random, by design and other- 
wise, in order to hit upon a more adequate method, but because 

practice-effect itself involves change in processes. This was 
particularly pointed out in the discussion of the Training Results 

(pp. 82ff.). 

The scores at the beginning of Al.'s training measured letters 
clearly seen; at the end, letters 'matured' from 'fringe' content 
of consciousness. The conquest of the 'fringe' content was 
the means of raising the scores of Mn. and Le. by supplement- 
ing the maximum perception and retention of clearly seen 
letters, and was the proper practice-effect in Al.'s training. Al., 
however, had not recovered, by the last day of training, from 
the disastrous effect of this direction of effort, upon the fixing 
and retaining of clearly seen letters which contributed his highest 
score on the third day. He was working under the disadvantage 
of striving to effect coordination of these part-processes and had 
not yet succeeded. 

The early scores in Rt.'s training in learning 12-letter-rect- 
angles measured letters recorded from kinaesthetic-auditory, 
or kinaesthetic imagery alone (see Analysis Curve, Appendix 
B. Fig. 17, p. 293). Then, additional letters from visual 
imagery began to contribute to the score and by the 7th day 
they reached their maximum. From the 5th day "visual asso- 
ciations" began to contribute as many letters as did the visual 
imagery, which had maintained its level. The scores at the 
beginning of the training measured letters from one kind of 
imagery — homogeneous letters, — at the end, letters from four 
distinct kinds of imagery — heterogeneous letters}'^^ 

How this change in the material measured was brought about, 
illustrates accurately what the practice-effect involves: 

Rt. at the beginning got a strong visual impression of the 
letters and then converted it, by pronouncing the letter-names, 
into kinaesthetic-auditory imagery for retention and reproduc- 
tion, repeating letter-names over and over during the lo-second 

""The transition from simple imagery to mixed or complex imagery 
through practice in memory work was shown by von Sybel (Zeits. f. Psych. 
53:338). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 175 

interval between perception and recording. But on the first 
day he found that he could economize time and effort by con- 
verting the stimulus immediately into kinaesthetic-auditory 
imagery and by giving a rhythm to the repetition. The effort 
to make a strong visual impression was dropped out. This 
simplification of method was accompanied by a simplification 
of the kinaesthetic imagery itself through dropping away of 
the auditory component which formerly supported it. If visual 
imagery found place at all, it merely supported the kinaesthetic 
upon the same letters. The reagent found that the lo-second 
exposure limited the kinaesthetic method of fixing the letters 
adequately for recall to the first six places. But after repeti- 
tion had facilitated this process through a readier recall of 
letter-names in the naming process, and through a more definite 
rhythm in fixing the letters for recall, some time was gained 
which permitted attention to note other letters; these extra 
letters were recorded from visual imagery. This was the first 
coordination of different kinds of imagery from each of which 
different letters were recorded. This two-fold coordination then 
gave way to a three-fold coordination in which additional let- 
ters were recorded from "visual associations." The first oc- 
currence of the associations involved the letters CP, which 
as soon as seen stood for "Chemically Pure," When record- 
ing, these letters were found to be very vivid by reason of 
their association with the familiar phrase; and finding asso- 
ciations became a method. Another three-fold process devel- 
oped through the habit of intensifying the visual impression 
of some additional letters while repeating by rote the kinaesthetic 
group; when recording, it was found that other less vivid letters 
could be recalled from visual imagery besides those which had 
been intensified during perception. This three-fold process con- 
sisted in the coordination of kinaesthetic imagery, intensified 
visual imagery, and a secondary visual imagery which seemed 
to persist in its own strength. By the loth day a four-fold 
process was occasionally employed which coordinated all the 
kinds of imagery already mentioned. 

Single-fold imagery was dominant during the first three 



176 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

days; two-fold coordination was dominant during the 4th, 5th, 
and 6th days; three-fold coordination became dominant after 
the 7th day; and four-fold coordination appeared on the loth 
day after which it supplemented the three-fold imagery when 
associations were not found to hold sufficient letters. The 
single-fold method recurred on the 9th and 14th days; both 
days of reduced scores {vid. Analysis Curves, Appendix B. Fig. 
16, p. 292). 

The greatest improvement as shown by the practice curve was 
coincident with the greatest use of the three-fold and four-fold 
methods; that is, with the highest coordination of the different 
kinds of imagery. And the rise of the curve is dependent 
throughout upon the increasing use of the auxiliary forms of 
imagery. On the nth and 12th days, when the practice-curve 
first reached its higher levels, as many letters were reproduced 
from the auxiliary imagery as from the kinaesthetic imagery, 
while on the first three days less than a fifth as many were so 
reproduced. 

Other effects of training were: (i) the method of assigning 
to associations favorable letters other than those occupying the 
usually preferred 7th and 8tli places on the card, (2) the method of 
recording the letters held in the weakest imagery first, and (3) 
a more adequate coordination of the recording and reproducing 
part-processes so that writing down some of the letters ceased 
to be a distraction on account of which other letters escaped 
recall. 

Per cent of improvement in this training evidently measures 
change in processes; not merely the more radical changes at 
the beginning, involved in adaptation to a new kind of work, 
hut those smaller and more orderly changes which constitute 
practice -effect. ^ ^® 

"*This fact of change in processes during practice is amply supported by 
the literature, typical references of which follow: Talbot (An attempt to 
train the visual memory. Am. Jr. Psych. 1897. 8:414-7) by exercising visual 
recall improved her memory which made more frequent use of visual elements 
than it had done before. Culverwell (The creation of a memory. Jr. Exp. 
Ped. 1911-2. 1:160-1) reports an interesting case of improvement through 
practice in changed mode. Change in processes during practice was shown in 
reaction-time to words by Berger (Ueber den Einfiuss der Uebung auf geis- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE . 177 

Practice-effect in the tests is a source of variability in the 
test-averages of different reagents. It was not operative in 

tige Vorgange. Phil. Stud. 1889. 5:170-178); in simple reaction-time by 
Angell and Moore (Reaction time: A study in attention and habit. Psych. 
Rev. 1896. 3:249-252); in discrimination of clangs by Whipple (An analy- 
tical study of the memory image and the process of judgment in the discrim- 
ination of clangs and tones. Am. Jr. Psych. 1901. 12:448); in learning 
paired associates of non-sense syllables by von Sybel (Ueber das Zusammen- 
wirken verschiedener Sinnesgebiete bei Gedachtnisleistungen. Zeits. f. Psych. 
1909. 53 :338) ; and in memorizing non-sense syllables by Ebert and Meumann 
(Ueber einige Grundfragen der Psychologie der Uebungsphanomene in Ber- 
eiche des Gedachtnisses. Archiv f.d. ges. Psych. 1904. 4:202f¥, 2iofif, 228). 
Philippe (Sur les transformations de nos images mentales. Rev. Philos. 
1897. 43 ^492) and Bentley (The memory image and its qualitative fidelity. 
Am. Jr. Psych. 1899. 11 :47-8) pointed out the characteristics of instability 
and mutability of imagery which would affect recurrent processes in which it 
plays a part, and Kuhlmann (On the analysis of auditory memory conscious- 
ness. Am. Jr. Psych. 1909. 20:i94ff) found that in later than immediate 
recall of sounds auxiliary visual imagery became more frequently the means 
of recall. With respect to changes in the processes of recall dependent upon 
degree of learning J. R. Angell (Determination of mental imagery. Psych. 
Rev. Mon. 1910. No. 53:70) wrote: "If I am obliged to repeat the words 
before they are completely learned, my recall is likely to be dominated by 
visual processes. On the other hand if I am allowed to proceed until the 
learning is quite perfect, the recall is likely to be mainly in auditory-motor 
terms, and the more perfectly automatized the act becomes, the more I lose 
the visual element. Judged at one stage of the process, I should then be set 
down as a visualizer; judged at another stage, I should be auditory-vocal- 
motor." 

But the most conspicuous cases are shown in studies of learning, in which 
well-defined stages are related to the curve of practice : 

Bryan and Harter : Studies in the telegraphic language. Psych. Rev. 1897. 
4:27-53; 1899. 6:345-375. 

Swift: Beginning a language. A contribution to the psychology of learn- 
ing. Studies in Phil, and Psych. (Garman volume) 1906. 2^7-313, 304flF. 

Book : The psychology of skill, with special reference to its acquisition in 
typewriting. Univ. Mont. Bull. 1908. 53:1-188. 

Swift: Learning to telegraph. Psych. Bull. 1910. 7:149-153. 

Ordahl: Consciousness in relation to learning. Am. Jr. Psych. 191 1. 
22:i58ff. 

Kline and Owens : Preliminary report of a study in the learning process, 
involving feeling tone, transference, and interference. Psych. Rev. 1913. 
20:222-3. 

Cleveland : The psychology of chess and of learning to play it. Am. Jr. 
Psych. 1907. 18 :297. 



178 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

some of our tests, but it was clearly so in others. If it was 
much greater in the first than in the final test, initial capacity, 
as expressed by the average score of the first test, is lower 
relatively, than in the case of about equal practice-effect or no 
practice-effect in the first and final tests; the difference-score 
will be relatively too large. The extent to which this source 
of error was operative in our tests, as well as the frequency of 
practice-effect in both tests, is shown by the following table: 

Tests I 4 5 6 7 8 9 lo 13 17 19 Total 

a. 4641201124328 

•b. 05100200221 13 



a. Much greater practice-effect in the first test than in the final. 

b. Practice-effect in both tests. 

In these eleven tests there were 125 difference-scores; 28 
(22%) of them are too large because of the greater practice- 
effect in the first test; and practice-effect occurred in both first 
and final tests in 13 (10%) cases. 

The distribution of the cases over the reagents is as follows: 

Regular Control 

a. b. a. b. 



Mn. 


2 


3 


Le. 


4 


I 


Rt. 


2 


I 


SI. 


2 





Ly. 


2 


I 


He. 


2 


I 


Cr. 


I 


2 


Al. 


I 


2 



Ms. 


4 





Wf. 


2 








4 


I 


— 


2 


I 



To be safe in the comparison of difference-scores, such tests 
should be chosen as are free from the rapid practice-effect of 
adaptation, or training should continue until initial efficiency 
is more stable and its quantitative expression more reliable.^^^ 

i. General Effect of Special Practice 
After seeking to avoid error by making the difference-scores 
as nearly as possible fairly comparable, our quantitative data 

"'For further discussion of this matter, see p. 22if. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 179 

for generalization upon the general effect of special practice of 
the trained reagents are greatly reduced; and in view of the fact 
that even they are not decisive, our generalizations must remain 
statements of probability. 

With this caution in mind we may examine the cases in 
which training-effect seemed to show itself in improvement in 
the tests. These cases are collected in the following table : 

Training Reagents Tests 

7,* 9, 10. 



Tachistoscopic 




Mn. 
Le. 


I7 2, 
5,* 8. 


4, 


6, 






Al. 


3, 4.* 


8, 


9. 


Learning 12-letter-rectangles 


Rt. 


I.* 5, 


6, 


8, 






SI. 


7, 10. 






'Reaction to sound 




Ly. 


4,* 10, 


13- 




Memory training 




He. 


4,* 6, 


9, 


17- 






Cr. 


4,* 5, 


6, 


17- 



*These cases were influenced by greater practice-effect in the first test. 

Common elements in part-processes, or in modes of attention, 

are not difficult to find: 

Training on the tachistoscope involved: 

quick perception (shared by tests 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10), 
keen momentary attention (shared by tests i, 6, 7), 
reproduction of imagery (shared by 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), 
coordination of part-processes (shared by 1,4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). 

Training in learning 12-letter-rectangles engaged 
quick perception (shared by i, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), 
rapid kinaesthetic processes (shared by 8, 9, 10), 
apperceptive grouping (shared by 9, 10), 
reproduction of imagery (shared by 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)! 
keen momentary attention (shared by i, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). 
keen continuous attention (shared by 5, 8, 9, 10), 
coordination of part-processes (shared by i, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). 

Training in reaction to sound involved 
quick perception (4, 10, 13), 
keen momentary attention (10, 13), 
quick reaction (4). 

Training in memory engaged 

keen perception (4, 5, 6, 9, 17), 



i8o JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

apperceptive grouping (9, 17), 
reproduction of imagery (4, 5, 6, 9, 17), 
continuous attention (4, 5, 6, 9). 

The probable cases of general effect listed here do not con- 
stitute a complete list for which there is quantitative evidence, 
for cases in v^hich great improvement was in part contributed 
by change in method were set aside; as may be illustrated by 
two cases of Mn. There is little doubt that she brought to the 
test on learning 12-letter-rectangles great advantage from her 
tachistoscopic training, yet her gain (64%) is set aside because 
of a radical change in her method induced by her training; 
there is no doubt at all that she improved in her training, yet 
her gain (147%) in the test identical with it was for the same 
reason set aside. 

The requirement of setting such cases aside, it will be remem- 
bered, is made by the form into which the investigation was 
cast: the ostensible purpose was to test for the influence of 
improved conditions of attention, and scores including the ad- 
vantage or disadvantage of change of method could not be 
used to measure difference in the capacity of attention. Apart 
from this requirement, however, there is another ground for 
discarding these difference-scores, which challenges their value; 
evidently their service is largely limited to determining the 
relative advantage of the different kinds of work. 

But we do not need to rely upon our quantitative data for 
proof of general effect of special practice. Introspections indi- 
cate it more clearly and more certainly than difference-scores 
can. Not only are methods of work, and systems of imagery, 
transferred from one kind of work to another where they are 
applicable, as the methods of fixing and reproducing 12-letter- 
rectangles were carried over to memory of consonants serially 
presented (Rt.), and to digits simultaneously presented (Rt., 
SI.), and as the better organization of associations in which 
letters from 12-letter rectangles were fixed and retained after 
training in memory (Cr.), but the process of adaptation to the 
strange work of the test consists in the selection and application 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE i8i 

of elements of former experience which, when acquired, must 
always have been 'specific' and which as applied are always 
'general/ This principle is not only true of the exceptional 
and somewhat bisarre cases cited to illustrate unusual variations 
in the scores, as Sl.'s map-directions in card-sorting, and the 
grasping of series of sounds as chimes, but it is true of the 
usual and regidar processes of learning to do expertly the work 
of the test. 

The general effect was usually advantageous, as was often 
pointed out in connection with discussion of change of method, 
under Test Results, but it is not necessarily so; Ly.'s 'sensory 
set' of consciousness carried over to the typewriter-reaction 
from reaction to sound, the attempted transference of training 
method by Rt. and SI. to commercial signs presented in the 
method of training,^^^ were disadvantageous. Wf.'s complex 
scheme in typewriter-reaction, and Sl.'s unwieldy map-scheme 
in card-sorting, will serve to illustrate the fact of negative 
influence. 

Introspections indicate that the 'spread of training' need not 
be conscious,^^^ as may be illustrated by Cr.'s improvement in 
learning 12-letter-rectangles which was largely due to better 
organization of the associations used to represent the letters, 
a prime factor in the memory-training, yet he was not conscious 
of applying training-effect. Indeed, introspections in this type 
of experiment are not of value because they assert or deny the 
influence of training upon the tests, although such statements 
may often be true, but because they describe the processes en- 
gaged in both training and tests fully and accurately enough 
for the presence or absence of specific influences to be determined. 

j. Conclusion 

Variability in the mental processes engaged by the reagent 
on any test was found to be universal; radical change in the 

"'Agreeing with the results of Sleight {op. cit. p. 440) that elements may 
not be available where the whole form will not apply. The fact seems true 
particularly when the coordination of part-processes has become automatic 
or mechanical. 

"* Again in agreement with Sleight (op. cit. p. 440). 



i82 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

processes between the first and final tests, for the ten tests 
in which the results were the more regular, occurred in over 
a third of the i66 difference-scores {vid., p. i68). 

Great variability in initial capacity, as represented by the 
average of the scores of the first test, was also universal; in 
twenty tables, there were but three cases in which the range of 
variability was less than half the lower average, 9 cases were 
between 100 and 200% of it, and two cases were over 400 9& 
of it {vid., p. 169). 

The effect of these two kinds of variability was to reduce 
the comparable difference-scores to a fourth {vid., p. 171). 

The causes of variability were general, such as health; inci- 
dental, such as accident in manipulation of a key or of cards; 
and specific, such as are involved in adaptation, or in practice 
{vid., p. 171). 

Great difference in the scores of an individual and great 
difference in initial capacity are signs of great difference in 
kind of work {vid., pp. 172). 

The source of the more specific causes of variation lies in 
part in the practice-effect of the tests, in less part in the practice- 
effect of the training, in greater part in earlier experience. 
Change in process is effected through the selective function of 
attention, by way of adaptation, and of acquiring skill through 
practice. Adaptation occasions the more sudden and radical 
changes, as abrupt change in method; skill through practice 
involves a more or less orderly sequence of changes depending 
in nature ujpon the task but always resulting in a marked 
difference in the kind of work performed in its initial and 
final stages {vid., p. 173). 

Practice-effect in the tests disturbs the quantitative results; 
if it is greater in the first than in the final test, the difference- 
score is too large. Any average which includes it and purports 
to measure efficiency is not strictly reliable. The extent of this 
source of error in 'mental tests' may be indicated by the fact 
that of 125 difference-scores, 22% were affected by greater 
practice-effect in the first test, and 10% by practice-effect in 
both first and final tests {vid., p. 177-178). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 183 

Recognizing the inconclusive character of our quantitative 
results, even after the difference-scores were made as comparable 
as possible, we found 31 cases (7 of which were influenced by 
practice-effect in the first test) of probable transference of 
training-effect to the tests, some of which were greatly different 
in material and method from the training. In all, however, 
common elements in part-processes, and in modes of attention, 
were numerous {vid., p. i/Sff.). 

Introspective data are decisive in indicating the transference 
of methods of work and systems of imagery^^^ from one kind 
of work to another, where applicable, and that adaptation to 
the strange work of a test consists in the selection and applica- 
tion of elements of former experience which, when acquired, 
must always have been 'sjpecific,' and which as applied are 
always 'general.' This also appears to be a principle of the 
learning-process, in which skill is attained by smaller and more 
orderly changes in the processes {vid., p. i8of.). 

Transference need not be consciously effected. Introspec- 
tions are of value chiefly not because of asserting or denying 
it, but because they describe the processes fully and accurately 
enough for its presence or its obsence to be seen. And its effect 
is sometimes negative {vid., p. 181 ). 

As a measure of attention our tests are inadequate, and the 
question of transference of improved conditions of attention 
remains open. That our quantitative results were not more 
conclusive in showing the effects of training on attention may 
be owing, in addition to the disturbing influence of great varia- 
tion in processes and scores, to certain limiting conditions under 
which the experimentation was conducted: (a) Change in 
method between tests rules out the results as a measure of 
change in attention; (b) our reagents were university students 
whose habits of attention were pretty well established by former 
training; (c) our trained reagents were more mature than the 
control reagents and were experienced in laboratory work; (d) 
our period of training was relatively short (six weeks, three 
days per week) ; (e) our tests could not be long enough to 
give a reliable measure of initial ability, because of inter-test 

^"'' In agreement with Fracker {op. cit, pp. goff.). 



i84 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

practice-effect; and (f) adequate introspections were limited 
almost wholly to the trained reagents. 

The contribution of the experiment lies principally (i) in 
revealing the nature and the extent of variation in mental 
processes, both between different reagents and with an individual 
reagent, which may be expected when such 'tests' as ours 
are given under favorable laboratory conditions to intelligent 
young men and women; (2) in showing how such variation 
affects the scores; and (3) in offering suggestions toward 
improvement in this type of experiment. 

The interesting question of how statistical method is affected 
by these considerations is discussed later (pp. 219 ff.). 



2. Experiment on Reproduction 



The purpose of this experiment" was (a) to supplement the 
Experiment on Attention by a more intimate knowledge of the 
factors of variation, through greater refinement of introspection 
and analysis, and (b) to set the conditions to test for a subtle 
but definite 'spread of training.'^-^ 

To meet the former aim, tests were chosen or devised which 
offer opportunity for introspection separately upon the successive 
'moments' into which they naturally fall, or for fuller descrip- 
tion of the processes used in acquisition and reproduction by 
reason of the material used in them. 

To meet the latter aim, the tests and training were arranged 
to exclude the transference of methods of work or of systems 
of imagery, such as belong rather to the grosser and more 
radical changes in work, due to what was termed "adaptation," 
than to those smaller and more orderly changes which constitute 
practice-effect proper. 

It will be remembered that the most definite cases of the 
general effect of practice which came to notice in the preceding 

"Performed during the year 1911-1912. 

*^ For the distinction between 'Spread of Training' and 'Transference,' 
see footnote to p. 225, and the text on p. 230. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 185 

experiment were of the nature of 'transference,' but that there 
was also some indication of 'spread of training' ; and that it 
was this latter sort of general practice-effect that was found 
in the earlier experiments on Marking-out Words, Discrimina- 
tion, and Reaction with Discrimination and Choice. 

The susceptibility to improvement of the capacity to 'mature' 
and reproduce weak imagery in the tachistoscopic training, in 
the Experiment on Attention, suggested reproduction of imagery 
as the work of this experiment. ^^^ Consequently, tachistoscopic 
and memory tests were devised and made to differ radically 
in method and material from the training, in order to avoid 
'transference' and to invite 'spread of practice' ; a further 
test which differed from the training but slightly in material, 
and method, was included to determine if so slight a difference 
might cause interference. 

The training chosen was sound discrimination, and in order 
to insure practice in reproduction of imagery of some sort, 
the time-intervals between the two sounds to be discriminated 
were varied between 7 and 60 seconds, and series of sounds 
were made to vary widely, as a whole, in intensity. 

The tests were designed to measure the capacity to reproduce 
imagery occasioned by the presentation of materials of different 

"^ This process, or group of processes, so far as it lies above the threshold 
of consciousness, may be represented by a tension of attention under the 
influence of 'determining tendencies' analogous to the experience of recalling 
a name that seems close but delays in coming ; conceivably, how^ever, it also 
takes place wholly under the threshold, operates in part from "Unconscious 
psychical stimuli" (Lipps: Grundtatsachen des Seelenlebens, S. 125), involves 
as subtle processes as the "unconscious associations" reported by Scripture 
(Ueber den Associativen Verlauf der Vorstellungen. Phil. Stud., 1892, 7 78, 
136), Jerusalem (Beispiel von Assoziation durch unbewusste Mittelglieder. 
Phil. Stud. 1894. 10:323-5), and Thomas (Ein weitres Beispiel. Zeits. f. 
Psychol., 1896, 12:60). Vid. Footnote on p. 87. Statistical evidence of the 
influence of subliminal impressions upon judgment is to be found in experi- 
ments in discrimination (where Right Cases fall off regularly with the magni- 
tude of D) {7nd. Appendix D, p. 299, and Peirce & Jastrow, quoted by 
Donaldson in The Growth of the Brain, p. 292), and has been reported from 
experiments on Guessing by Sidis (Psychology of Suggestion. 1898. 168-171) 
and Stroh, Shaw and Washburn (A study in Guessing. Am. Jr. Psych., 1908, 
19:243-245). 

It is perhaps not necessary to point out that provision for introspection in 
this experiment is for other purposes than for a direct determination of the 
presence of these subtle processes or of increase in their efficiency. 



i86 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

kinds, and the training was designed to develop greater power 
in reproduction of imagery of a certain simple kind. 

The method of experimentation was the same as the preceding. 
Three groups of reagents took the series of tests before and 
after an interval of from five to seven weeks. The first group 
took training during the seven weeks; the second group took 
all the tests before and after a free interval of five weeks; the 
third group took but one pair of tests each before and after 
a free interval of five weeks. Each pair of tests was therefore 
taken by three trained reagents, three control reagents who 
took the other tests also, and two control reagents who took no 
other tests. 

The trained reagents (Hs., Wn., Rt.) were seniors in Psy- 
chology, English and Education, respectively, who were doing 
advanced laboratory work in Psychology. The first group of 
control reagents (Al., Hhs., Br.) were a freshman and a 
sophomore in Psychology, both pursuing elementary laboratory 
work, and a freshman in Economics who had no laboratory 
experience. The second control group (Ck., Pn,, An., Ty,, Dn,, 
Hn., Hd.) included five seniors, one sophomore, and one fresh- 
man, representing the German, History, Education, Economics, 
and Pre-Legal departments of the university. 

a. The Tests 

Test I. Recognition or choice of one of two letters. The 
purpose of this test was to give a measure of the liability^^^ of 
reproduction. The apparatus was the same as that used in the 
Tachistoscopic test (No. 17) of the preceding experiment. The 
method was (a) to expose a 12-consonant-rectangle o.i Sec, 
(b) after a 3-sec. interval to expose two letters printed like those 
printed on the rectangle, one of which was to be chosen by the 
reagent as having been on the card and to be recorded in the 
section of a ruled form corresponding as nearly as possible to 
its position in the rectangle, (c) to time with a stop-watch the 
interval between the exposure of the two letters and the vocal 
choice of one of them. Rectangles were presented at the rate 

^For use of this term, vid. Kiilpe: Outlines, p. 197. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 187 

of one a minute. Fifty experiments constituted the test. All 
judgments carried an index of one of four grades of certainty 
as to the letter's existence on the card and as to the position 
in which it was recorded. Introspections were made upon four 
different intervals or moments of the experiment: (i) From 
"Ready" to the stimulus, (2) Perception, (3) On the interval 
of 3 seconds between perception and the appearance of the two 
letters, (4) The moment of recognition or choice. 

The two letters shown for choice were so selected that they 
were distributed evenly over the 12 spaces of the card, that 
each letter was on the card one-half times as often as it was 
exposed for choice, and that it occupied the second position as 
often as it did the first in the presentation for choice; thus it 
would be possible to learn if any part of the card is favoired 
in perception, if there were favorite letters, if the right or left 
letter presented for choice is favored, all of which would be 
sources of error, and under the conditions of the experiment 
would tend to bring the score of R cases toward the probability 
figure of 50% ; Reproductive tendencies would be shown by the 
excess over 50%. Fifty experiments constituted the test. 

Test 2. Reproduction and recognition of letters on 12-letter- 
rectangles. The apparatus was the same as that used in the pre- 
ceding test. The method was only slightly changed from that 
of Test 17 in the Experiment on Attention. 12-Consonant- 
rectangles were exposed o.i seconds; 10 seconds were given in 
which to record the letters perceived; the card was then re- 
exposed for 15 seconds while the reagents recorded in pencil 
other letters recognized as having been seen but which failed 
to be recalled. The rate of experiments was two minutes. In- 
trospections upon process and imagery were written and the 
following intervals of the experiment were treated separately: 
(i) From "Ready" to stimulus, (2) Moment of perception; 
(3) Upon the interval before recording, if there was one; (4) 
Interval of recording; (5) Interval of recognizing further letters. 
Twenty experiments constituted the test.^^^ 

"*See Appendix C, p. 295, Method "Text (2)," for values used in scoring 
the results. 



i88 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Test 3. Discrimination of sounds. The same as No. 7 in 
the Experiment on Attention; the same series of intervals were 
used {vid. Appendix B. Fig. 7, p. 290) and the stimuli were 
given with the same instrument — the sound pendulum. There 
were 10 series, of 9 judgments each, in the test. Intro- 
spections were taken on the process. The per cent of R cases 
was to constitute a measure of the sort of reproduction upon 
which training was taken; it being assumed that some sort of 
reproduction of the first stimulus, or of some function of it, 
was necessary to render judgment upon the second. 

Test 4. Memory for visual symbols. Reproductive ten- 
dencies could be measured here by the amount of correct repro- 
duction from a single presentation, and by the number of 
repetitions necessary to learn completely a series of 12 symbols; 
both measures .were attempted. The Miiller and Schumann 
memory apparatus was set at one revolution in 44.5 seconds, 
which presented the symbols at the rate of 1.07 seconds. And 
when the series was repeated, presentations came at the rate 
of 44.5 seconds, leaving an interval of about 33 seconds between 
the end of one and the beginning of another. The number 
of revolutions was recorded by the apparatus. The symbols 
were of the same kind as those used by Ebert and Meumann,^^^ 
one series of symbols resembling notes of music with the flags 
variously located; the other, of symbols resembling sickles, both 
elements changing in absolute positions and in relation to each 
other. 

The first part of the experiment consisted in reproduction 
of as many symbols as could be remembered from one presenta- 
tion each of two series of six symbols; the second part, of 
learning two series of 12 symbols by heart. 

b. The Training 

Three 4th year students (Hs., Wn., Rt.) took the training 
in Sensible Discrimination of intensities of sound, which ex- 
tended over a period of 48 days and consisted of 31, 59, 60 

"' Archiv f .d. ges. Psychologic. 1905. 4 : 49 ; samples of these forms are 
also illustrated by Thorndike : Educational Psychology, vol. II, p. 369. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 189 

series, 9 judgments per series, taken upon 7, 11, 13 days, 
aggregating 279, 450, 540 judgments respectively for Hs., Wn.. 
and Rt. The training was taken between 2 : 30 and 3 : 30 p.m., 
and continued about 45 to 55 minutes. The room during the 
experiment was kept closed and much darkened, and the 
reagents kept their positions constant, about 4 meters from the 
source of the sound, with their backs toward it. They took 
the training together and secured privacy at a long table by 
partitions of wooden screens. 

The sounds were produced by dropping steel balls from 
magnets upon a steel block, by the use of Krueger's "Fall- 
phonometer."^^^ Manipulation was noiseless. The weights of 
the pairs of balls were: 

I- 5-S6 grams 

2. 8.33 " 

3. 11.86 " 

and the heights from which they fell, and their relative 
intensities of sound were: 



Intervals 


cm. 


Intensity 


9 


96 


1.78 


8 


84 


1-55 


7 


72 


1-33 


6 


63 


1. 17 


S 


54 


I. 


4 


47 


0.87 


3 


40 


0.74 


2 


35 


0.63 


I 


30 


0.56 



These steps in intensity are about one-half a noticeable difference. 
The 54 cm. fall was used for the norm, and it with all the 
rest for variables; but by using the three pairs of balls, three 
norms of varying intensities (i.oo, 1.50, 3.13), with their corre- 
sponding series of variables, were obtained. Judgment was given 
upon the second sound, and the latter was the norm as often 
as it was the variable. The time intervals between the two 
stimuli were equally distributed over 7, 15, 30, 60 seconds, 

^ Similar, in principle, to illustration in Wundt : Grundziige d. Physiol. 
Psych. (5te Auf.) I: 512. 



igo JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

These changes in intensity of the norms and in sequence of 
variable and norm were intended to prevent an easy classification 
of the first stimulus and to favor its being held in some sort 
of imagery; and the temporal intervals were made various 
lengths to make the retention or recall of that imagery necessary, 
and to facilitate a checking up of this fact by comparison of 
the number of the Right and Undecided cases for the various 
intervals. The method was that of constant difference, Right 
and Wrong Cases; procedure without knowledge. 

c. Training Results 

(i) Processes 
Hs. 

At the beginning and throughout the training Hs. held the 
auditory image of the first stimulus, or brought it back with 
more or less effort, and compared it with the auditory sensa- 
tion of the second stimulus (i, 32). But there were variations 
from this general method •}~'^ 

^ In the deviations from the simple direct comparison of auditory imagery 
which resuhed in the training-series of these reagents, it is possible that 
reproductive processes of some sort found place. Whether the simple audi- 
tory impressions were supplemented or actually replaced by complicated 
auditory imagery or imagery from the other modalities (visual, tactual, 
kinaesthetic), or comparison was dispensed with in 'free' judgments, it would 
seem that imagery representing the first stimulus, or an organic reaction 
to it, mediated judgment. That these deviations are frequent, results largely 
from the fact, pointed out by Whipple (An analytical study of the memory 
image and the process of judgment in the discrimination of clangs and tones. 
Am. Jr. Psych., 1902, 13:259), Slaughter (A preliminary study of mental 
images. Am. Jr. Psych., 1902, 13: 526ff), Kuhlmann (Problems in the analysis 
of the memory consciousness. Jr. Philos. Psych. & Sci. Meth., 1907, 4:5ff), 
and others, that the auditory image is not simple and that it sometimes loses 
itself in its other-modal or organic constituents ; and partly from the impulse, 
insisted upon by Woodworth (Non-sensory components of sense perception. 
Jr. Phil. Psych. & Sci. Meth., 1907, 4: i69fTf), to clothe the sensory impression 
with ideational, perceptive, or emotional attributes. Bentley (The memory 
image and its qualitative fidelity. Am. Jr. Psych., 1899, 11:7). quoting 
Kiilpe, reminds us that reproductions are not weakened copies of sensations, 
that reproduced sensation is schematic, needs aids (words, movements, or- 
ganic sensations, feelings) to complete recollection, and adds that these aids 
may become the real vehicle of retention. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE IQJ 

Sometimes the image of the first stimulus is overcome by- 
other imagery or by distraction: In one instance visual imagery 
of E manipulating imaginary apparatus crowded it out, after 
which it was recalled (i). When she was nervous or tired 
the auditory image was apt to get away, especially during the 
longer intervals (18,25); then she was particularly conscious 
of distraction — wind whistling by the windows (26), the stoi>- 
watch ticking (31), a throbbing noise down stairs (55) which 
rendered the renewal of the image very difficult or even im- 
possible. "Lost image entirely . . . was going to judge ' ?' when 
it returned and I was quite sure that my judgment 'greater' 
was correct" (22 15 , Norm-Variable 9, 60," Right). 

Instead of comparing the image of the first stimulus with 
the sensation of the second she sometimes had the feeling of 
converting her image of the first into sensation and of com- 
paring sensations (i), or in uncertainty she compared images 
of both (26:8); occasionally she interpreted intensities as 
qualities of pitch and translated tonal imagery into intensity 
(14, 46); she also based judgments on extraneous imagery as 
"the feeling in the hands of noise from wooden blocks" (29), 
and other kinaesthetic images in hands and arms (32:3, V3N — 
15''). In some series she did not try to hold the image of the 
first, but often brought it back after the second stimulus was 
received (36, 41). In some cases she made 'free' judgments: 
"I lost the image entirely, yet when the second stimulus came 
it was very clearly 'greater' ... it was startlingly loud" 
(39 :2, — NV8 — 60" — R) ; "I could not bring back image of the 
first stimulus, but I was certain that the second stimulus was 
'greater' ; I think I judged more by the way it startled me than 
by anything else" (42:1, — NV/' — 60'' — R). 

The judgment 'like' sometimes meant that (i) the "sensa- 
tion exactly fits in with the retained or renewed auditory image" 
(i), and is given with a feeling of certainty (21) ; and (2) the 
identity is doubtful (26). 

Introspective notes as to certainty in a series correlate with 
the number of R judgments (28, 29). 

Relief was felt when the intervals were short; the effort to 



192 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

renew and strengthen the image of the first stimulus is spared 
(27:9). 

Her training was taken under trying circumstances, occasioned 
by events not connected with her university work, which made 
her very nervous and given to abstraction. She omitted series 
3-17 and 47-49 inclusive. 

Wn. 

Particularly at first and somewhat all through the training 
Wn. retained or revived images of the first stimulus in order 
to pass judgment upon the second; comparison however was 
difficult: "I seem to compare the first stimulus I have retained 
through images, with the second stimulus as soon as I hear the 
latter. When I have tried to compare them both as images I 
have found great trouble in keeping each clear in my mind; 
they have tended to overlap each other" (3). This difficulty 
in comparing images is mentioned several times (6, 8). Never- 
theless to pass judgment upon the sensation of the second 
stimulus, the image of the first seems necessary: "I find that 
if the first is not in my mind as one image or another when 
the second is sounded, I have great difficulty in comparing the 
two. It requires constant attention to keep it there," (6). The 
holding or reviving images is mentioned in series i, 2, 3, 14, 
17, 20, 21, 22, 28, 38, 41, 48. It was resorted to in the heavily 
typed series (17, 38) upon inability to classify the first stimuli 
or to attribute to them a personal quality. 

The images are strong just after the first stimulus has sounded, 
but soon fade (2), are very hard to retain (6) or to revive after 
they have disappeared. Often they are recalled by the second 
stimulus (7, 12, 26). 

The imagery seems rarely purely auditory. It is usually 
auditory and kinaesthetic, the latter taking the dominant role, 
especially in reviving a waning or lost impression (2,3). In 
this the throat, head, and hands, are chiefly instrumental (i, 4, 
7, II, 13, 14, 20, 28, 41). Sometimes the kinaesthetic image 
is based on a "singing" of the first stimulus, intensity being 
interpreted as pitch (15, 28, 41, 49); rarely is the pitch held 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 193 

in auditory imagery of another's voice (43,48). Occasionally 
the sounds are interpreted as 'stronger' instead of 'greater' 
(4) ; and value is given in terms of "sensations of being struck" 
(i). Judgments were sometimes based upon the "startling 
effect" (3,4a), or a "sensation of surprise," (5). Visual 
imagery played some part but was usually recognized as a dis- 
traction (4, 13) ; sometimes, however, as an aid (13, 14, 20, 27). 
It took various forms: "a piece of steel being snapped" (i, 13, 
20) ; "E working with the apparatus" (4, 11, 14, 2y) ; "a piece 
of steel hitting a bar of iron" (4) ; and such as attended associa- 
tions involved in attributing personal quaHties to the stimuli (43). 
Other modes of passing judgment developed early and con- 
tinued throughout the training. The beginning of the method 
of classification resulted from a noted "familiar" quality of the 
first stimulus as a sound that was heard before and is now 
known (8, 9, 36), and a comparison of the first stimulus with 
preceding first stimuli (10, 11). This led to classification as 
"very loud," or "very soft" (10, 11, 14, 18), which developed 
into a method (20, 30, 31, 41, 49) : "I have developed quite a 
system of classification of the first stimulus as 'very large,' 
'large,' 'small,' 'very small,' etc., so that I have no difficulty 
in recalling it upon hearing the second. I do not even have to 
think of it in the interval when the first stimulus is very decided 
one way or the other" (30). The first stimulus was then re- 
tained in verbal-motor imagery. Sometimes this method failed, 
however, and she had to fall back upon auditory-kinaesthetic 
imagery (33). Upon the break-down of this method, another 
was developed, suggested probably by an early instance (13:6) 
in which a loud stimulus brought to mind a very aggressive 
man of her acquaintance. Qualities of personality were con- 
ferred upon the first stimulus (13, 35, 36, 37) : "From classify- 
ing the stimulus in a general way as 'very great,' 'great,' etc., I 
have come to attributing qualities; as, aggressiveness, timidity, 
power, weakness, etc. I find that by doing this I can remember 
the stimulus easily when I want to compare it with the second 
stimulus and need not think of it during the interval, as is the 
case when I try to retain it by image" (35). Sometimes, how- 



194 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

ever, the stimulus failed to suggest personal qualities (38) ; "In 
such cases I fell back on the images, auditory-kinaesthetic, for a 
comparison, and was usually able to recall them" (38).i28 

The obvious economy of these two methods in the longer 
intervals of 30'" and 60" is probably responsible for their use. 

Tree' judgments were seldom made (26.3). 

'Like' judgments were usually based upon "similar effects — 
same kind of sensations" (i), or "the same sensation of 
surprise" (4). 

The short intervals {f\ 15'') were a relief (10), the long 
ones difficult (18, 23, 47), especially because the retained imagery 
may not belong to the last experiment. 

The heavier balls were also a relief (16, 22, 46) ; the weaker 
sounds were hard to retain and hard to classify (33). 

When the norm was the first stimulus it was often thought 
to be varying (17). 

Emotional factors probably played some part in determining 
judgment: Sometimes the second stimulus was anticipated (5); 
reagent was worried because there were so many 'less' (20, 43) 
or 'greater' (24) judgments occurring in the series; or upon 
giving several 'like' judgments she tried to make the rest either 
'greater' or 'less' (32). Conferring personality was an "interest- 
ing" process (36) and may have urged attributes not appropriate. 

The 'type' as shown by an assembling of the data is verified 
by introspection: "I am surer of 'less' than of 'greater' judg- 
ments" (5). The R judgments for the cases in which the second 
stimulus was 'less' greatly exceed those of the cases in which 
it was 'greater.' 

Rt 

Rt. insists that no image of the first stimulus remains during 
the interval (i, 2, 4) : "In fact if I try to keep it in mind I 
am not sure that I succeed as well as when I don't try to do so" 
( I ) ; but "an idea of the intensity of the first stimulus remains — 
though not in auditory imagery" (1:7). 'T do not carry the 
image over the interval; I do carry a sort of estimate of the 

"'That methods and standards of judgment alter in training was shown 
by Whipple's reagent O. (Am. Jr. Psych., 12:448). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE I95 

comparative loudness of the first sound: I cannot say just how 
I form the estimate" (5). At the beginning of the training, 
therefore, he began to classify the first stimulus which relieved 
him of carrying an auditory image. But there were times when 
the image of the first stimulus was distinctly recalled just after 
the second was received: "On the appearance of the second 
sound there must be a recall of the 'idea' of the loudness of 
the first sound, and I think the actual sound arouses an auditory 
image of the first" (36). 

As the training progressed, judgments were confidently given 
when no image or idea of classification was present (28), and 
it became difficult to introspect (31 ). The following is a descrip- 
tion of the process written after the last series: 

"I have a 'mental estimate' rather than an auditory image of 
the sound. There must be a vague fleeting imagery with this 
'mental estimate' for if the interval is long this estimate is less 
definitely placed, is more elusive and fleeting and vague. A sort 
of 'stock pattern' of degree of loudness remains. This concerns 
only the interval. On the appearance of the second sound I 
am more able to judge than I expect to be" (49). 

There are many protests against the long intervals (i, 2, 3, 
10) the reagent claiming that he loses attention; this would 
seem to indicate an effort to carry imagery along. 

Judgment was usually given quickly or upon the appearance 
of the second stimulus (2, 3). The most satisfactory state of 
the attention was not the highest (2), and the reagent com- 
plained that it was often poor (4, 6) and often that the sounds 
seemed vague (13, 14). Distraction was often noticed (5, 18, 
26, 27, 35, 41). 

The judgment 'like' merely meant no perceptible difference 
(1:8,4:6). 

The reagent's 'type' is verified by his introspection upon the 
last day : "The long interval I feel makes the second sound 
seem louder. The first is fading in intensity and clearness and 
is becoming flitting in its recall. . . . There is either an unusual 
number of judgments 'greater' or else I have a decided prefer- 
ence for them in series 48 and 49." 



196 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

(2) Quantitative 

In reckoning Right and Undecided cases (a) judgments upon 
D=o are discarded,^^^ (b) 'Doubtful' and 'like' judgments 
are aggregated as Undecided; (c) per cent is reckoned upon 
the total number of judgments upon D>o. 

With the intermediate weight of ball a series of judgments 
yield a slightly greater per cent of R cases when the fall-phono- 
meter is used (as in the training) than when our test series is 
given on the sound-pendulum (as in Test 3), The following 
table gives the results of Rt. : (80 judgments each). 

Sound Pendulum Fall-Phonometer 

R U R U 

62.5% 27.5% 65.0% 22.5% 

All other conditions remaining the same, a greater per cent 
of R cases occurred (a) when the absolute intensities were 
greater (heavier balls being used), (b) when the time-interval 
between the stimuli was 15'', (c) when the second stimulus is 
the less, for Hs. and Wn. ; when it is the greater, for Rt. 

From the following table, showing the number of R cases 
in 96 judgments on each time-interval, in seconds, it appears 
that "imagery" of some sort was more or less used : 

7" 15" 30" 60" 

Hs. 46 57 48 43 

Wn. 51 61 54 59 

Rt. 63 68 61 54 

The 7" interval was not sufiEicient for the imagery to become 
settled. The imagery seemed to dim with the flight of time; 
only for Wn., who used classification more consistently — an in- 
direct method, — was the longest interval as favorable as others.^^® 

'^ Vid. p. 43, footnote. 

*'° The indication of the dependence of judgment upon memorial factors 
becomes more definite if we separate the judgments according to the rela- 
tion of the intensity of the second stimulus to that of the first. Assuming, 
from the work of Ebbinghaus and others, some of whom are noticed below, 
that the memorial factor dims with time, one should expect (i) Overestima- 
tion of the second stimulus, (2) A falling off of Right Cases with time, in 
the gross averages (as is shown in the table above), and (3) upon segrega- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 197. 

If the R judgments of the training are aggregated for each 
of the reagents respectively, their relative efficiencies may be 
compared: Hs. 50.4%, Wn. 58.6%, Rt. 64.1%. 

A peculiarity of the training is that instead of improvement 



ting the data as suggested, a general restriction of this decrease in R cases 
to the group in which the second stimulus is less than the first. This third 
expectation is fulfilled in the following table (Per cent of judgments reck- 
oned upon all judgments upon D>o) : 

7" 15" 30" 60" 

S,<S, 





Hs. 




22 


55 


26 


53 




Wn. 




23 


58 


54 


69 




Rt. 




63 


71 


77 


71 






Avg. % 


40 


61 


56 


64 


s,>s, 
















Hs. 




69 


56 


57 


34 




Wn. 




71 


(^7 


63 


54 




Rt. 




69 


71 


50 


40 



Ave. % 70 65 57 43 

The first expectation enumerated above, is met by all reagents when the 
stimuli were given 60" apart, and by Rt. in gross averages. It is opposed 
by 'Type' in the shorter intervals for Hs. and Wn. Another influence to 
veil in slight measure the fulfillment of these expectations is the presence 
of 'absolute' or 'free' judgments, shown by all reagents in excess of R 
cases in Order N — V over Order V — N ; it amounts to about 7% of all R 
cases on D>o. 

Our results conform pretty well with the literature. The over-estimation 
of the second stimulus (the Fechnerian Time-Error — vid. Psychophysik 1 :88) 
has been found with musical tone by Wolfe (Phil. Stud. 3:556), with inten- 
sities of sound by Starke (Phil. Stud., 3:27ofif), Merkel (Phil. Stud., 4:ii7flf) 
Lehmann (Phil. Stud., 7:205), and Tschisch (Zeits. d. Psychiatrie, 1896) 
with memory for passive movement by Schukowsky (Zeits. d. Psychiatrie 
1899), with discrimination of shadows by Gerwert (Zeits. d. Psychiatrie, 1899, 
No. 8), and with discrimination of shades of gray by F. Angell (Phil. Stud. 

19:5). 

A falling off of R cases with increase in time between the stimuli is shown 
by Wolfe {op. cit. p. 569), Tschisch (Dritter Int. Kong. f. Psychol., 1896, 
p. 103), Gerwert {op. cit.), and F. Angell {op. cit. From Table III, pp. 12-13). 

The general restriction of this falling off of the R cases with time to the 
group S,>S2 cannot be well illustrated from the literature for the reason that 
this group cannot be segregated from the other (Si<S2) in the tables; it is 



198 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

retrogression was shown in R judgments, although Undecided 
judgments decreased. The following table gives the per cent 
of R and U cases for each third of the training: 

R U 





1st 


2d 


3d 


1st 


2d 


3ci 


Hs. 




5I.I 


48.8 




33.8 


30.0 


Wn. 


60.0 


58.8 


57-5 


18.8 


26.3 


18.8 


Rt. 


63.8 


68.8 


60.0 


25.0 


16.3 


13.8 



The only improvement indicated is in Rt.'s intermediate part of 
the training. This may mean that no increase in reproductivity 
took place as a result of the training, in which case, if we may 
judge from the results of the single reagent in the Experiment 
on Sensible Discrimination (p. 45) who failed to improve 
with practice, no improvement is to be expected in the tests. 
It will be seen in the test results that in Test 3, on this same 
process, Rt. is the only trained reagent who shows a gain and 
that is insignificant in amount. 

But on the analogy of Al.'s training in the Experiment on 



shown, however, in the data of Table III in F. Angell's research on the 
Discrimination of Shades of Gray {op. cit. pp. 12-13) which we segregate 
and present in per cent of R cases as follows : 



S,<S, 





5" 


15" 


30" 


60" . 


^vg.% 


Al. 


61.9 


60.4 


67.3 


72.2 


6S4 


Bt. 


S3.S 


48.2 


55-7 


65.6 


55-7 




57.7 


54-3 


61.S 


68.9 




Al. 


63.0 


53-7 


46.4 


47-5 


52.7 


Bt. 


67.7 


70,7 


65.2 


SS.o 


65.3 



s>s. 



65.4 62.2 55.3 51.3 

When intervals of from 5 seconds to 60 seconds have been used between 
the stimuli, optimal intervals greater than 5 seconds and less than 30 seconds 
have been shown by Gerwert (op. cit.), Tschisch (Dritter Int. Kong. f. 
Psychol., p. 103), Wolfe (op. cit.), and Angell (op. cit. p. 5). 

Influence of 'Type' was shown by Martin and Miiller (Zur analyse der 
Unterschiedsempfindlichkeit, pp. 128-134), Kampfe (Phil. Stud., 8:582), and 
F. Angell on Discrimination of Clangs (Am. Jr. Psychol., 12:72). 

A good critique of the variable influences upon R cases in this type of 
experimentation is to be found in Martin and Miiller (op. cit., pp. I7ff) 
and in Angell's review of the same in the Am. Jr. Psychol. (ii:266fif). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 199 

Attention, there may have been some change made by the train- 
ing which the scores failed to show. Analysis rather than scores 
must be relied upon to determine this, and it was seen in the 
analysis of processes that change did take place. 

d. Test Results 

(i) Recognition or Choice of One of Two Letters 
The method of this test favors analysis of both introspective 
and quantitative results for determining many of the factors of 
variability in the processes involved in a task which seems quite 
simple and definite. 

(a) Introspective Analysis 

If one experiment be divided into four intervals upon which 
introspections were recorded, the method of the reagent and 
the accompanying processes may be stated as follows : 

1. Interval between signal and stimulus {2 sec). A settling 
of the body into a comfortable (Al.) or a strained (Hhs.) atti- 
tude, a direction of the gaze upon the window of the screen, 
sometimes with the head at a slight angle (Wn.) ; Consciousness 
may (i) contain keenly the purpose of (a) seeing the whole 
card, or (b) a definite portion of it, or (2) the mind may be 
a blank (Hhs,). If perception of the whole card is intended, 
the center of the window may be keenly fixated or the gaze 
may be not so limited spatially. The trained reagents appear to 
have been more constant in holding a single purpose, though all 
reagents varied some in this respect during the 50 experiments 
of the test; the control reagents did more experimenting 
especially in regard to the extent and location of perception. 

2. Moment of perception {o.i"). A more or less dim image 
of the whole card may result, but usually one line or a group 
of letters stand out more clearly, while the rest of the card 
may present some dim imagery or may appear blank. Some- 
times the presentation was read (verbally) from left to right 
or from top to bottom; sometimes just seized as a whole, vis- 
ually. The grades of clearness of the letters did not follow from 
the purpose, except in cases where perception was narrowed to a 



200 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

small part of the card. From 2 to 5 letters were the usual 
number that occurred in clear imagery. 

3. Interval between the perception and the presentation of ike 
two letters {3"). Visual imagery was held and often read as 
far as clear letters appeared; effort to 'mature' dim imagery, 
and to locate the letters seen. Sometimes a vivid hope is enter- 
tained that certain of the clear letters will be exhibited. There 
was noted a feeling that more letters than those perceived would 
be recognized if shown (Rt.). 

4. Moment of recognition or choice. If one of the two letters 
shown had been clearly perceived, it was instantly named; if 
neither had been clearly seen, effort was made to determine which 
had been on the card and one was chosen because it "seemed 
more familiar" either to sight or by pronunciation, because it 
brought back a vague image of the card, because its form was 
more pleasing, because of certainty that the other letter was not 
seen; or the choice was a "pure guess." Since the imagery was 
in all grades of clearness, certainty of judgment graded down 
from very certain to wholly uncertain. Four grades were re- 
corded. "Very certain" was given for very clear visual or 
kinaesthetic or combined imagery; "Certain" for less clearness; 
"Not just certain" either for such imagery as would support 
the choice of a similar letter, or for vague imagery; "Wholly 
uncertain" for very vague imagery or for none. Sometimes a 
letter was recognized as having been seen, while in process of 
pronunciation (Hs.). Other cases of 'maturing' imagery 
adequate for recognition, concurring with the feeling of famil- 
iarity, and efficiency in recalling a vague image of the card, 
referred to above, are indicated by changes in choice. That 
vague imagery often determined undecided judgments is shov.'n 
by the record of the influnce of the ist, 2d, and 3d preceding 
cards. 

(b) Quantitative Analysis 

Analysis of the quantitative results reveals some additional 
factors of variation in processes, indicating further complexity 
of the processes engaged in this simple task, and shows in what 
way training of the regular reagents affected these processes. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 201 

The range of initial capacity was from 48% to 76% R cases, 
and its average of 61% was increased in the final test by 2%. 
But increase was not uniform, nor do the regular reagents show 
any advantage over the control reagents, and it will be made 
evident that these scores cannot be taken as a measure of re- 
production or, in fact, of any other capacity. The first patent 
indication that they measure greatly different processes is the 
fact that the results of two control reagents are directly opposed 
to each other : Al. made the highest score in the first test, and the 
lowest in the final, losing 18% ; Ck. made the lowest score in the 
first test and made the greatest gain (12%). 

Letters were chosen by all reagents with four degrees of 
certainty each of which involved different processes, as is shown 
not only by the introspections but by the regularity of their 
quantitative results when the latter are aggregated : 

VC C NC U 



% R cases 


94 


73.6 


56.3 


494 


Avg. time of choice 


1.22" 


1.47" 


1.68" 


2.16" 


Avg. space error 


0.79 


i.iS 


1.32 


1. 41 



The distribution of all judgments is shown by the following 
per cents : 

14.6 18.4 21.6 45.4 

Thus almost half of the aggregate of judgments was "Wholly 
Uncertain." 

The distribution of judgments over the various grades of 
certainty varied some between the first and final tests for all 
reagents. This was caused by variability in the direction and 
extent of the attention, owing to the difficulty of carrying out 
the instructions to attend to the whole card; only one reagent 
(Rt.) was able to do this consistently and he complained that 
the unnatural effort was a distraction. It has not been stated, 
perhaps, that all the letters on the card in all our tachistoscopic 
tests fall easily within the angle of acute vision. The effect of 
narrowing the attention to a portion of the card was to get a 
few letters in great clearness at the expense of any imagery' 



202 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

of the rest of the card however vague, to increase the number 
of "Certain" choices, and to decrease the influence of 'fringe' 
imagery in determining R cases in "Uncertain" choices. 

That the latter influence was present is indicated by the time- 
relations between the right and wrong cases in Uncertain choices : 
If the four averages containing the greatest increase in time of 
R over W cases, the four containing the least increase, and the 
five containing decrease in time, are selected and compared, we 
get the following table : 

Increase in time .54", Ratio iR:W 1.40 

" " .125", " " .93 

Decrease " " .14", " " -83 

Which indicates that in "Uncertain" choices time was a func- 
tion of R cases. It should be noted that when R cases are not 
influenced by 'fringe' imagery, the ratio of R:W should be i., 
and that the table shows in the ratios of lower value an opposing 
influence which will be discussed later as the effect of preceding 
impressions. In "Certain" choices, of course, R cases correlate 
with less time. 

Variation between reagents in extent of the card attended 
to is indicated by the location of letters in "Certain" choices: ist 
line, Hhs. ; ist and 2d Hne, Hs., Rt, Wn.2, Ck. ; ist and 2d 
mainly, Al; 3 lines, Br., Wn.i. 

The averages emphasize three types : 

Lines 
I 2 3 

Hhs. 24 2 I 

Hs., Wn., Rt., Ck. 14 10 3 

Al., Br. 9 19 8 

Other factors of variation in the processes involved especially 
in "Uncertain" choices, as shown by quantitative analysis, are 
the influences of favorite letters, of similar letters, of the position 
of the letters exhibited for choice, and of preceding letters. 

All of the reagents favored or ignored particular letters, al- 
though these letters rarely retained their special status throughout 
both tests, but rarely exchanged their status in the final test. 
This influence is verified by the fact that choice of the favorite 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 203 

letter is made in shorter time, besides being shown by greater 
frequency in a tabulation of all letters chosen. 

Partiality for the left or right letter exhibited for choice was 
shown by all reagents and is constant for both tests; in five 
cases it was as high as 1:2. 

Influence of preceding letters was suspected when it was noted 
that wrong cases would frequently have been right for preceding 
cards, and was found by comparing the number of identical 
letters preceding the recorded letter with the number preceding 
the true letter. The aggregate shows the influence clearly : 

Preceding cards 
1st 2d 3d 

Certain choices 27.8% 5.3% 1.5% 

Uncertain choices 94% 45-0% -6.5% 

This influence upon "Certain" choices was shown only by 
space error, and must have been effective through facilitating 
perception ;^^^ upon "Uncertain" choices it was shown by both 
space error in R cases and by W cases, and must have been 
effective, in the former, by augmenting 'fringe' imagery into 
determining influence, in the latter, by either augmenting 
'fringe' imagery of a similar letter, or by persisting to the 
exclusion of 'fringe' imagery from the last perception.^^^ 

A factor working for wrong cases, especially in "Not just 
certain" choices, and counteracting the influence of preceding 
letters toward R cases in "Uncertain" choices, was the influence 
of similar letters. All errors in "Certain" choices were attribut- 

"^ Schumann (Die Erkennung von Buchstaben und Worten bei momentaren 
Beleuchtung. Bericht u.d. I. Kongress f . Exp. Psychol., 1904 : 36) inferred 
from the fact that the recognized letters were not always those most clearly 
seen, that the recognition of letters must be assisted by residua of previous 
perceptions of them. 

*** In tachistoscopic presentation of mutilated typewritten words, Pillsbury 
(A study in apperception. Am. Jr. Psychol., 1896-7, 8 : 355, 357, 359) found 
an unconscious effect of preceding words upon the word-completion process ; 
introspective report of the absence of an association determining the comple- 
tion was untrustworthy. McComas (Some types of attention. Psych. Rev. 
Mon., 191 1, No. 55, p. zi) also found, in tachistoscopic work, a determining 
influence from presentations given 2 min. and 5 min. earlier; content appeared 
to lie dormant until reported as seen on a later card. 



204 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

able to this cause, and revealed as similar letters, TH, MW, DB, 
XK, NY, RB, PR, NK, CO, YV, BK. 

In testing for the influence of training in the reproduction of 
imagery upon this test we cannot use the gross scores of R 
cases; increase of reproduction is consistent with an increase of 
W cases in "Not just certain" choices because of the similarity 
of letters; we are consequently limited to the "Uncertain" 
choices, and, although they are influenced as shown above by 
many factors of variation, they furnish evidence that the training 
produced some effect. 

Since the range of initial capacity was but from 43% to 
50%, results may be grouped and handled with a degree of 
confidence. The regular reagents show a greater increase in 
R cases : 

First Final Difference 

Regular 44.8% 58.1% +13.3 

Control 45-9% 50.0% + 4-i 

Part of this increase must be due to the 'maturing' of 
'fringe' imagery as is indicated by the greater increase in the 
time of the R over the W cases in the final test: 

First test .04" 

Final test .25" 

It was pointed out above that time here is a function of R cases. 
This increase is not shared by the control reagents nor by one 
of the regular reagents (Wn. ) who in her training avoided 
reproduction of simple imagery. 

Since there was some increase of influence of preceding letters, 
it is possible that this influence tended, more than in the case 
of the control reagents, to augment the 'fringe' imagery of 
the last presentation in a way similar to the effect of this 
influence in facilitating perception in cases of "Certain" choices. 
If the 'fringe' material from preceding cards is not 'matured' 
about a nucleus of 'fringe' imagery from the last presentation, 
its influence would be toward W cases; and the above table 
indicates by per cents below probability (50%) that this occurred 
in the work of both groups in the first test, and it may have 
occurred and have been overcome by its opposing factor in the 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 205 

final test. That this balance occurred in the case of the control 
reagents seems evident from the slight increase in the per cent 
of R cases, as is shown by the table above, in spite of great 
increase in the amount of influence from preceding cards: 

First Final Difference 

Regular 13.3% 16.7% + 3-4 

Control 18.2% 32.5% +14.3 

This table also shows that the control reagents were somewhat 
more influenced by preceding letters than were the regular 
reagents in the first test. The effect of the interval upon the 
control reagents was to shift this influence toward the more re- 
mote cards and to make it independent of imagery from the 
last presentation. The effect of the training upon Hs. and Rt. 
was to shift this influence to the more recent cards and to 
combine it with 'fringe' imagery of the last presentation. 

(2) Reproduction and Recognition of Letters^^^ 

The results of this test furnish another forceful illustration 
of the worthlessness of merely quantitative treatment of 'mental 
tests.' 

Initial capacity in recording letters from a 12-letter-rectangle 
exhibited o.i" ranged from 4.15 to 10.05 points. The three 
regular reagents occupy the three higher places. With one ex- 
ception gains in the final test vary inversely with initial capacity. 
The final capacity of but one control reagent exceeded the low- 
est initial capacity of the regular reagents, and that exceeded 
by 40% the final capacities of two reagents who trained, in 
the preceding experiment, on this work for 18 days. Intro- 
spections offer no explanation. 

The recognition part of the experiment, designed to test 
for reproductive tendencies too weak to reach the threshold, 

"' Experimental work justifying our selection of this test has been done 
by Robert Mac Dougall (Recognition and recall. Jr. Philos. Psych. & Sci. 
Meth. 1904, 1 : 229-233) who used words for his material. He found that 
where about a half were reproduced through recall, about three-fourths were 
recognized. "Characteristic differences between recall and recognition," have 
been more recently studied by Hollingworth (Am. Jr. Psych. 1913, 24:532- 
544). 



2o6 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

was ill advised owing to the impossibility of checking reagents 
in their recognition and of equating their scores. 

Two important facts, however, may be extracted from the 
results. 

The regular reagent who avoided reproduction of simple 
imagery in her training and who was not benefited by the 'matur- 
ing' of the 'fringe' imagery in "Undecided" choices in the 
preceding test (Wn.) lost 6.2% while the other two regular 
reagents gained 7% and 5% respectively, yet her initial 
capacity was slightly below their's. 

And the introspective evidence of variability in processes 
recorded in Test 17 of the preceding experiment is supplemented 
by similar evidence showing that this variability appears in 
each 'moment' of the experiment; particularly in four of the 
five intervals into which the experiment naturally falls: (i) 
In the 'Anlage' between "Ready" and the stimulus; (2) In 
the direction and distribution of the attention during the per- 
ception, especially with reference to the treatment of the after-i 
image which persists after the screen has fallen; (3) In the 
process during the voluntary interval between perception and 
recording; (4) In the process of coordinating the maturing, 
retaining, and reproducing part-processes, during recording. 

(3) Sound Discrimination 

It will be remembered that the work of this test is the same 
in kind as the work of the training, the only difference being 
that here the sound-pendulum was used instead of the fall- 
phonometer {i.e., the sounds were produced with wood instead 
of with steel), and the time-intervals between stimuli were all 
short (about 3"). 

(a) Processes 

Reagents were not shown the sound-pendulum or the man- 
ner of producing the sounds, in order to avoid the 'stimulus 
error' and the complication of visual imagery. But usually 
curiosity was evinced as to how the sounds were produced, 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 207 

and in almost all cases visual imagery of imaginary apparatus 
was frequent in the process of discrimination. 

Hs. used auditory imagery for judging, and in both tests 
speaks of comparing the images; in the second test she speaks 
of ease of judging in one series because the auditory image 
of the first stimulus remained in her mind without effort. But 
in the beginning of the second test she also compared the 
image of the first with the sensation of the second stimulus, 
only bringing the latter into imagery for comparison when the 
judgment was at first doubtful. She was helped by kinaesthetic 
imagery into which the stimuli were converted by singing the 
tone, by striking or pressing down or weighing with her arms 
and hands, etc. When the kinaesthetic and auditory bases 
of judgment conflicted she speaks of following the latter. She 
had considerable visual imagery which was regarded as a 
hindrance : of the experimenter holding a hammer and knock- 
ing on the table, of a scale for distributing intensities, ^^^ and 
of steel balls falling. Another distraction was the anticipation 
of the second stimulus. An affective image, as of knocking 
in the back of the head, is spoken of at the beginning of the 
first test; and an auditory image of her own voice singing the 
stimulus occurred in the second. The interval of training seems 
to have diminished the visual imagery and other distractions, 
leaving her with the general method of holding the auditory 
image of the first stimulus as a basis of judgment upon the 
impression of the second or of comparing with the image of 
the second in case the difference seemed doubtful. 

Wn. also has varied imagery as bases of judgment; but her 
kinaesthetic imagery is perhaps predominant, affective imagery 
following, then visual and auditory. She speaks several times 
in her introspections in the first test, of comparing images; 
sometimes these are a combination of auditory and kinaesthetic ; 
and in case of doubt she reviews them over and over in her 
mind. Her kinaesthetic imagery began immediately and con- 
tinued throughout: She tried to remember by kinaesthetic 

'** Cf. Angell, F. : Phil. Studien. 1892. 7 : 414-468 . 



2o8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

image in the mouth, head and arms ( i : i ) , pressed the teeth 
together (1:2), tried to sing the stimuH (1:3, 2:7), nodded 
hccK. i 1 .10) ; and several times the stimulus could be recalled 
only through kinaesthetic imagery (1:6, 7). She had affective 
imagery: felt knocks in the head (1:1), "feel the sound be- 
fore I hear it; if 'feel' and 'sound' do not agree I make both 
intensities with my arms; this aids my judgment more than 
auditory images" (1:5). Distracting influences were the visual 
imagery of woodpeckers and trees (1:1), of E with a little 
wooden peg (1:2) or hammer (1:4), of toy men hammering 
a block (though she thought this helped) (1:6); anticipation 
of the second stimulus (1:3); bothering about the instrument 
(i 13) ; bothered because of so many "greater" judgments (i :8) 
or "less" judgments (2:7). The interval of training seems 
to have qualified her to give judgment upon the second impres- 
sion; she says she compared auditory image with auditory 
impression (2:1). Her kinaesthetic imagery continues, mov- 
ing hand as if it held the hammer (2:7); and so does the 
affective : "feel the little hammer in my head and myself 
knocking with it" (2:2). The visual imagery does not seem 
quite so frequent. Although the interval was not over a few 
seconds, she felt that she makes the sounds more and more 
alike as she recalls them (2:6), which indicates that voluntary 
strengthening of the first stimulus may account for her type 
which was shown in her training results. 

Rt. from the first protested that he carried no image of the 
first stimulus over to the second (1:1,3); but that he "re- 
thinks" if not "re-images" it (1:1). When he thinks "just how 
loud was that sound?" and dwells upon its intensity, he be- 
comes confused in his judgment upon the second (1:4). An 
attentive attitude less than maximum was most satisfactory 
(i :3, 4, 5). The probability of a symbol of opposite meaning 
following several like symbols in succession in a series, he 
thinks, may have occasionally influenced his judgment in doubt- 
ful cases ( I :7). In both tests he was bothered by rhythm which 
would run through his head and tend to make the second 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 209 

Stimulus louder or weaker than it really was (1:8, 9; 2:4). 
The effect of the training was to make these 'wooden' sounds 
seem "novel"; he was very uncertain of his judgment in the 
first series of the second test, and his score was low. But 
in his 3d series he underscored four out of his nine judgments, 
showing that confidence soon returned. And near the end of 
the test he says: 'The whole of the work today is so much 
easier to follow, with the short [temporal] interval [between 
the stimuh] (2:8). 

Al. thinks that she compares impressions that seem to be in 
her head, in making judgment (1:1); she attentively fixes the 
first and waits a few moments after the second stimulus has 
been received before judging. But by the middle of the first 
test she remarks that it does not take so long to judge (1:5); 
even then, the first sound seemed to be an impression in her 
head. After the interval the clear differences were judged upon 
the receipt of the second stimulus; the smaller differences, after 
a few seconds of comparison (2:1-3). Later in the test she 
felt the effect of practice {2:4,6) when the differences were 
clearer and judgment was more readily given. The second 
test seemed much easier. 

Hhs. made judgment immediately upon hearing the second 
stimulus; seems to have classified his sounds as light, medium, 
harder, (as of striking a board) (1:7, 2:4) and also without 
using the class-names (2:8-10). He had visual imagery of a 
metronome (1:6), and of some one striking a board with a 
small mallet. Thinks the second test a little easier, and that 
there were more clear intervals in it. Shows considerable 
practice-effect in the first test : 3, 3, 1,4, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6. 

Br. uses as a basis for judgment the effect the sound works 
upon him (i ; 2 :i). To this he added a sort of a classification. 
The second test seemed much easier than the first; more clear 
differences. 

Ty. thinks she compares auditory images, at first (1:1), 
which when clearly different are outside (1:4), but when not, 
they are brought inside the body and converted into a "tactual" 



2IO JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

image in the eyes and nose (i :4). She has some kinaesthetic 
imagery in the arm as if striking {1:4,2 -.3). After the interval 
there is some change: she weights the after-images of the 
stimuH, if their difference is sHght, in her ear (2:2) ; and has 
kinaesthetic images in ear and throat (2 :6) and chest in breath- 
ing (2:6); sometimes of humming the stimulus (2:6) or tap- 
ping it; and feels that the after-image of the second stimulus 
is louder than it should be (2:5); the change in general was 
toward kinaesthetic and possibly affective (tension in the ear) 
conversion. 

Dn. says that in comparing sounds his "mind was concentrated 
on a point inside the ear" (1:2); he compared controlled ex- 
halations of his breath, like carrying the tone of a piano in 
the roof of the mouth; less intensity, smaller volume of breath 
breathed out. He also classified sometimes. In the second test 
the same method was continued, except that in breathing the 
tone the tension of the throat muscles was taken into account; 
and it was supplemented by kinaesthetic imagery of the head 
and arms as in nodding or striking; of the toes, as pressing down 
for a heavy tone, raising for light (perhaps transferred from 
piano-playing) . 

These analyses indicate clearly that for the unskilled reagent 
discrimination of intensities of sound is a very variable pro- 
cess. Practice may not lead to improvement, as was shown 
by our trained reagents, and is verified here by Ty. and Dn., 
and the chief causes of retrogression are indirect methods of 
dealing with the stimuli; Wn, Ty., and Dn. are the clearest 
examples of this. 

A point of interest is that the 'wooden' sounds caused the 
trained reagents some interference after their habituation to the 
'metallic' sounds of the training: Rt. recorded that these 
sounds seemed "novel" and he was consequently very uncertain 
in his judgments, in the beginning of the second test; and 
the sum of R cases in the first two series in the final test was 
lower for each of the three reagents than in the corresponding 
series in the first test. By the third series, however, the 
interference had been overcome. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 211 

(b) Scores 

Initial capacity ranged from 48.8% to 76.3% R cases. The 
three regular reagents occupy the three higher places, and their 
scores in the final test change in a way consistent with the 
results of their training: Hs. and Wn., who lost consistently 
in their training, lost here; Hs. owing to conditions of health, 
and to her extraordinary score in the first test; Wn. to the 
development of the inadequate method of classification and asso- 
ciation which prevented treatment of the stimuli in terms of 
simple auditory or kinaesthetic imagery. Rt., who, although 
he showed loss in the latter part of his training yet showed gain 
in the intermediate part, made a slight gain. Thus the training 
effect shows itself in this test. 

The control reagents whose initial capacity was nearly as 
high as that of Wn. and Rt. also lost, Dn. losing the greatest 
amount owing to the development of an indirect kinaesthetic 
method which was not so trustworthy as his earlier method 
of basing judgment upon 'affects' or more direct kinaesthetic 
imagery. The detrimental effect of an indirect method of 
discrimination has already been pointed out. 



(4) Memory for Visual Symbols 

(a) Processes 

In general all reagents were more or less helpless at the 
beginning of this test because the symbols were strange and 
evaded fixing. Almost all avoided the pure visual effort for 
which the test was designed ;^^^ they compared the symbols 

^* In this respect they conform with the work of Ebert and Meumann's 
(op. cit., pp. 50, 116) reagents, who declared that the symbols could not be 
learned from the pure visual impressions. Kuhlmann (On the analysis of 
the memory consciousness, a study in the mental imagery and memory of 
meaningless forms. Psych. Rev., 13 : 342) also found indirect methods of 
memorizing largely employed : associations, verbal descriptions, motor ten- 
dencies of eye and hand. And in another place (Problems in the analysis 
of memory consciousness. Jr. Philos. Psych. & Sci. Meth. 1907, 4 : 5-6) he 
points out a more subtle mode of vicarious functioning; through the more 
or less extended organic reactions which are evoked by any sensory stimulus, 



212 JOHN EDGAR C DOVER 

with conventional characters and things, gave them the names 
of these associated characters and things, and remembered the 
names, usually at first without the support of visual imagery 
necessary to record correctly. 

Owing to the inexperience of the control reagents in intro- 
spection but little knowledge is at hand of their processes; 
though that little points to a freer use of visual imagery and 
visual association of the forms of the symbols, than was true 
with the trained reagents. 

1 ) Immediate Memory 

The process of introspecting after recording from the single 
presentation of six symbols was difficult, and the processes of 
perception and reproduction were very imperfectly revealed. 
There was sufficient evidence, however, to indicate that there 
was large individual variation. 

For the 'note' forms, the effort was a) to visualize the pre- 
sentation (Hs.), b) to transpose the content into a visual scheme 
using the musical staff (Wn.), or c) to classify the flags accord- 
ing to spatial relations (Rt.). 

For the 'sickle' forms, the effort was generally verbal, to 
name conventional characters to which the symbols were similar, 
and to reproduce from kinaesthetic-auditory imagery. 

2) Complete Learning 

The trained reagents show clearly in their introspections 
that the processes employed in the 'complete learnmg' are quite 
complex and variable. 

For the 'note' forms there were three methods of learning 
employed : a) Naming the number and positions of the flags 
in the consecutive symbols, for recall in verbal imagery (Hs., 
Wn., Hhs.) ; b) classifying the symbols according to the num- 
ber of flags, and their relations of symmetry, counting the 
symbols to identify related symbols by number, for recall in 
mixed imagery largely visual (Rt, Br., Hd.); c) combination 



the lack of prominence of which in consciousness is no criterion of their 
utility. Bentley's statement that the aids to complete recollection may become 
the real vehicle of retention, has already been referred to (foot-note, p. 190). 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 213 

of naming and classifying (Al, Hn.). With methods a) and c) 
a few symbols at the beginning and the end of the series were 
usually held in pure visual imagery. The fact that the learning 
of this series may involve very different kinds of work is illus- 
trated by reagents employing methods a) and b) respectively: 

a) Hs. learned the series by naming, i. lower, middle, 2. middle 
top, 3. one middle, 4. two middle, 5. two bottom; etc. It was 
a straightforward 'rote' method, converting the presentation 
into verbal imagery; this was made vivid by verbal repetition, 
and was recalled through kinaesthetic-auditory imagery, sup- 
ported by visual memory. Wn. also named but used slightly 
different terms, adding left and right, and supported her verbal 
imagery with kinaesthetic imagery of direction in neck and 
arm. b) Rt. used the early presentations for inspecting the 
symbols and seeking relations in the position of the flags; then 
he began counting the symbols as they passed the window and 
fixing related pairs: No. 7 is No. i inverted, 6 is 12 reversed, 
9 is I with flags at half-mast, etc. ; and by drawing the symbol 
in the air with his pen while cognizing it and repeating- the 
number, he formed associations between pen-movement for 
reproduction and the number of the symbol; reproduction was 
supported by visual imagery. This was a more logical method, 
involving the apperception of relations. 

For the 'sickle' forms, tha same three kinds of methods were 
used, and with two exceptions the reagents carried over the 
methods they had used with the 'note' forms: a) the symbols 
were named by calling them h, ?, ? inverted, wrong v, right v, 
y inverted, g, 5, etc., and in reproduction the kinaesthetic- 
auditory imagery was supported by visual imagery (Hs., Wn.) ; 

b) the symbols were classified according to form (Rt.) ; or c) 
were learned by classifying some and naming others (AL, Hd.). 
Hhs. used method a) in his first test and b) in his final; and 
Hd., who used method b) with the 'note' forms, used method 

c) here. 

In the final test methods usually continued without much 
change, except on the part of three control reagents : Br. changed 



214 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

to a more purely visual method, Hn. from more purely visual to 
naming and visual, and Hd. introduced a method of counting and 
fixing forms in their positions (the method Rt. used in both 
tests). 

The effect of the interval was to make the test easier for all 
reagents ; this was so marked that a third of them assumed that 
the series of the final test was identical with that of the first, and 
felt a strong recognition for some of the sequences. The prin- 
cipal factors contributing to this were: (a) Familiarity with 
the symbols, b) concrete knowledge of the demands of the test, 
c) possession of a method, d) in some cases an improvement in 
method. 

(b) Scores 

If increase in facility of reproduction of imagery can be 
shown at all, it must appear in increased scores. In some cases, 
however, the scores are affected by change in method and are 
unreliable as measures of reproductivity ; and in all cases, pre- 
sumably, there was some improvement in the application of 
method leading to more adequate impression of the stimulus, 
which cannot be separated from the factor of reproductivity in 
the scores, 

i) Immediate Memory 

Since the tests in 'immediate memory' were necessarily short, 
incidental causes of variation, including direction and distribu- 
tion of attention, must play a correspondingly large role. And 
since it happens that all of the control reagents, except possibly 
Hn., worked more freely with visual imagery than did the more 
mature regular reagents, they probably received more benefit 
from the practice-effect of the test, and this advantage might 
more than off-set a slight increase in reproductivity brought by 
the regular reagents from their training. 

Individual variation in initial efficiency, for the 'note' forms, 
ranged from o to .329 (i representing a perfect score), and for 
the 'sickle' forms, from .080 to .414. Per cent of improvement 
was reckoned upon the final score and is too irregular to make 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 215 

the examination of the tables profitable. It ranged, for the 'note' 
forms, from 25 per cent loss to 100 per cent gain, and the control 
reagents show the best gains; for the 'sickle' forms, from o to 
81 per cent; neither group of reagents shows advantage over 
the other. Several scores are of interest : Wn.'s great improve- 
ment in the test on 'note' forms was due to a change of method 
from the use of the musical staff to naming; Hhs.'s o score in 
his first test was due to inverting each of the two symbols he 
retained (visually) ; Rt.'s large improvement on the 'sickle' 
forms was owing to greater facility in classification. The great- 
est and most consistent gain on both forms was made by Hd., 
shown later to be a special case, indicating that training in 
memorizing 'literal' ^^^ prose increased efficiency in this test. 

2) Complete Learning 

The 'complete learning' enabled the reagent to collect himself 
and work out a method in the course of the first test; and the 
variation in the factors of attention and adaptation was not so 
potent a source of error. 

Initial efficiency ranged, for the 'note' forms, from 15 to 
31.3 presentations, for the 'sickle' forms, from 12.3 to 42.8 pre- 
sentations. The trained reagents took, in general, fewer pre- 
sentations than did the control reagents. 

Improvement was reckoned in per cent, of initial efficiency: 





Regular 




1st Control 


2d Control 


'Note' forms 


Hs. 


(15) 


53-3 








Wn. 


(16) 


46.3 


Al. (19.6) 53-1 






Rt. 


(23) 


52.2 


Br. (24) 20.8 
Hhs. (31.3) 42.S 


*Hd. (25.6) 45.2 
Hn. (26.2) 39.9 


'Sickle' forms 


Hs. 


(12.3) 


50.4 


Hhs. (24) 19.2 


*Hd. (25.2) 64.3 




Wn. 


(29.1) 


52.9 








Rt. 


(42.8) 


S0.9 







The number in parenthesis shows initial capacity in number of presenta- 
tions ; reagents are ranged according to initial capacity. 



*Hd. is shown later to be a special case. 



"*In 'literal' prose the learning must be 'word perfect'; which contrasts 
with 'substance' prose, in which reproduction of ideas is tested. 



2i6 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Since initial capacity of the regular reagents was higher than 
that of the control reagents, they could scarcely be expected to 
show as much improvement unless there was a relatively greater 
increase of capacity in reproduction; the fact that they show 
greater improvement than four control reagents out of five, 
therefore, seems good evidence of a definite advantage. Aver- 
ages indicate this advantage still more clearly: 

Note Sickle 

Trained 50.6% 51-4% 

Control 38.8% 

The trained reagents were somewhat more accurate in their 
reproductions : In the first test two out of six records were 
without error, as against one out of five by the control group; 
and in the final test they made four out of six without error, as 
against three out of six by the control group. 

One of the control reagents, Hd., was withdrawn from his 
group in the consideration of results, because he represents an 
exception; he had been given a rather severe course of training 
in 'literal' prose by his fraternity brothers just before the final 
tests. And although literal memorizing is hard for him, and he 
left the room after the first test tired out, he found the final test 
unexpectedly easy, made the two reproductions without error 
(both scores in the first test were imperfect: .937, .833), and 
reduced presentations 45.2% and 64.3%. There is no doubt about 
the influence of his prose training upon this test. 

A negative 'spread of training' seems to be indicated by Rt.'s 
results in the first test in 'complete learning.' His method was 
that of classification and grouping, and introspections show that 
his habit of disregarding the stem in the 'note' forms, which was 
invariable, was carried over to the 'sickle' forms, where both 
stem and curve were variable, and caused confusion; he learned 
the 'note' forms in 23 presentations, while it took 42.8 
presentations to learn the 'sickle' forms. Not all of this differ- 
ence, however, should be attributed to negative spread of train- 
ing, for the 'sickle' forms are more difficult to classify and group 
than are the 'note' forms.^^^ 

^^' Though not necessarily more difficult to learn by naming, as is shown 
by the initial capacities of Hs. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 217 

(c) Summary 

The process of memorizing visual symbols did not engage 
much visual imagery; the usual method was to associate the 
symbol v^ith some familiar thing and remember it by verbal- 
motor imagery of the name of that thing, or to classify the 
symbols for reproduction from logical memory. Visual percep- 
tion served principally to analyze and interpret the symbol for 
conversion into verbal-motor terms or to effect classification. 
Where visual imagery was used, it supported the more promi- 
nent kinaesthetic-auditory. The complete process utilized a com- 
bination of verbal-motor, kinaesthetic, visual, and auditory 
imagery. 

The scores of the 'complete learning' show that although the 
control reagents began with less efficiency and therefore might 
be expected to make greater gain than the trained reagents, the 
latter, and one of the control reagents who had training in 
memorizing literal prose, made more improvement. The only 
explanation at hand is that training in retaining and recalling 
imagery occasioned by intensities of sound contributed to facility 
in retaining and recalling the combined imagery used in this test. 

e. Conclusion 

The results of this experiment supplement those of the Ex- 
periment on Attention in illustrating the variability in processes 
engaged upon a simple task and in locating the variability in each 
of the successive 'moments' of a test. 

Although the training, with its evident retention and repro- 
duction of auditory and other imagery, did not result in im- 
provement in sound discrimination, analysis of processes used 
in the training shows change in those processes, and training- 
effect shows itself in the tests. 

In Test I. (Recognition or Choice of One of Two Letters) 
the regular reagents increased R cases in 'uncertain' choices due 
to more 'maturing' of 'fringe' imagery of the last presentation 
and to strengthening this process by uniting to it the influence 
of preceding identical letters. 

In Test 2. (Reproduction and Recognition of Letters) the 



2i8 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

anomalous results emphasize the worthlessness of purely quan- 
titative treatment of the results of 'mental tests.' 

In Test 3. (Sound Discrimination) the results of the regular 
reagents are consistent with those of their training on similar 
material; but habituation to the 'metalic' sounds in the training 
caused interference with the transference of practice-effect in 
the early series with the 'wooden' sounds of the test. The great- 
est loss, by a control reagent, illustrates the detrimental effect of 
an indirect method of discrimination, thus agreeing with the 
training results of Wn. 

In Test 4. (Memory of Visual Symbols) the trained reagents 
show their advantage, in 'complete learning,' over the control 
reagents, except in the case of Hd. whose large and consistent 
gains in both 'immediate memory' and 'complete learning' indi- 
cate clearly that his inter-test training in memorizing literal prose 
contributed to his facility in memorizing these symbols. 

One of the corroborating facts in the results is that the regular 
reagent (Wn.) who avoided using simple imagery in her train- 
ing showed less gain in Test i. and a loss in Tests 2. and 3., 
where simple imagery was requisite, but was not handicapped in 
the 'complete learning' of Test 4., where the imagery could be 
more complex. 

It is noteworthy that all the gross quantitative results of Tests 
I, 2, 3, and of 'immediate memory' in Test 4, were worthless; 
only by careful analysis of scores and introspections was the fact 
of 'spread of training' made evident at all. 

The chief contribution of the experiment is : That the specific 
training did not result in gain in efficiency with the training ma- 
terial, but that it did result in changes in the processes it en- 
gaged and it showed its 'general' character in influencing the 
piocesses involved in Recognition or Choice of One of Two Let- 
ters (Test i) and in 'Complete Learning' of visual symbols 
(Test 4) both of which differed radically from the training in 
sense-mode of impressions and in methods of work. 

Facts of this character, already noticed, in the Experiment on 
Attention, in the failure of Al. to improve after his third day 
of training (p. 93), and in the failure of Rt. and SI. in their 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 219 

effort to apply the method of learning developed in their training 
to commercial signs (p. 154), indicate that not only is there gen- 
eral effect of special practice, both negative and positive, but 
there is an occasional negative special effect of special practice: 
Changes in the mental processes incidental (i) to the greater 
complexity of the processes involved in the next step of progress, 

(2) to the conscious application of a method already automatic, 

(3) to the development of a method which neglects the essential 
process, (4) to change of attitude toward the experiment, or 
(5) to chance variation in the processes, may cause retrogression 
in efficiency, indicated by a drop in the practice-curve. It is well 
known that in continuous practice the scores on the immediately 
following days suffer from this retrogression. Retrogressive 
effect of special practice must therefore be taken into account 
in testing for general effect. This negative special effect shows 
itself in negative general effect in tests similar to the training, 
and is not inconsistent with positive general effect in tests less 
similar to the training.^^^ 

3. Critique of the Test-Training -Test Type of Experiment 

Much has already been said by way of a critique upon the 
Test-Training-Test type of experiment in the introduction to 
The Experiment on Attention (pp. 65-70) and under the head- 
ings of Extent and Variability (pp. i67ff) and The Practice 
Curve (pp. I73ff), in the same experiment, as well as through- 
out the text in the discussion of The Test Results ; but it seems 
desirable to bring the critique together into a plain statement 
unencumbered with the concrete evidences upon which it is based, 
and to illustrate with a clear hypothetical case. 

The prime requisites of this type of experiment are (i) that 
the tests shall afford a reliable measurement of a known process 
or group of processes, (2) that the training-effect shall not only 
be measurable but shall be capable of definite description in terms 
of changes in processes, and (3) that change in efficiency in the 

*^In this respect it resembles 'interference/ which, however, is more 
transient. 



220 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

final test shall be described with sufficient precision to indicate 
its dependence upon, or independence of, the training-effect. 
Only when these requirements are met can the functional re- 
lationship of mental processes of various kinds be determined 
with certainty. 

In order that the processes tested can be known, trustworthy 
introspection is essential. If it is dispensed with, or if it is 
faulty, the test-averages may not belong to the same denomina- 
tion, in which case they can be neither grouped nor compared 
for any intelligible purpose. 

Suppose that the capacity of the reagents K., L., M., N., and 
P. to progress from station A. to station B. is measured by a 
test ; that K. and L. are trained in progressing from R. to S. ; 
and all are again given the test from A. to B., for the purpose 
of determining the training-effect upon the capacity of K. and 
L. Suppose progression in this illustration is made by travel, 
and in the first test K., N., and P. walk, and L. and M. ride 
bicycles; in the training K. and L. both walk; and in the final 
test K. and P. walk, L. and M. ride bicycles, and N. takes an 
automobile. Let the following table show the results, in minutes : 

Regular Control 







K. 


L. 


M. 


N. 


P. 


Beginning 




125 


130 








End 




95 


100 










First 


125 


20 


25 


135 


125 




Final 


lOO 


22 


20 


9 


120 



Training 
Tests 



Diflference — 25 -\-2 — 5 — 126 — 5 

Average — 11.5 — 45 

Conclusion : Results show that training in progression from 
R to S. has a negative influence upon capacity to progress from 
A. to B., since the practice-effect of the first test upon the final 
("45) greatly exceeded the gain (-1 1.5) made by the trained men. 

Analysis of processes, however, shows that training-effect was 
transferred by K. ; he used the same processes, as affected by 
practice, in the final that he did in his first test and in his train- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 221 

ing. A negative effect is shown by L., since his practice in walk- 
ing caused his bicychng muscles to retrograde. The anomalous 
gain of N, is the result of a radical change in processes, inde- 
pendent of the purpose of the test. For accurate knowledge of 
the reliability of the test-results other conditions affecting the 
progress should be known : whether the traveler had to turn out 
of the road into rough footing to pass vehicles, whether any 
part of the road was slippery, owing to the sprinkling cart or 
rains, whether any unusual conditions affected the work. In 
other words, the conditions must be under the control of the 
experimenter or must be known in order to be reckoned with; 
and in mental tests these conditions are both objective and 
subjective. 

This illustration represents the facts all too accurately for the 
comfort of those of us who have employed this type of experi- 
ment, and have struggled with anomalous results. Merely quan- 
titative treatment is worthless. Incidentally, it is difficult to see 
how any method of statistical correlation can improve upon the 
simple treatment shown above; and it is equally difficult to 
imagine a value for even the single test averages : e.g., what can 
we know by finding that the average initial efficiency in pro- 
gressing from A. to B. is 86 minutes, when no single ability or 
group of abilities approached that measurement? 

It seems patent that results from great numbers of reagents 
cannot be more reliable, when different kinds of work are mea- 
sured; this sort of error will not cancel itself out by multiplying 
it, nor will the 'probable error' have any meaning as an indica- 
tion of the reliability of the measurement. 

Practically, the requisite for introspective description of pro- 
cesses limits the number of reagents. The security of greater 
numbers may be obtained by repetition of the whole experiment. 

The requirement that the test shall afford a reliable measure- 
ment is not easily met, for the reason that it must be arbitrarily 
decided as to how much practice-effect to include. The usual 
preliminary series which gives an opportunity for adaptation to 
the work of the test does not remove the difficulty; practice- 



222 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

effect continues and at various rates with different reagents/^^ 
especially if different methods of work are employed. In almost 
any case a single test score is bound to be unreliable ; in some of 
our tests in the Experiment on Attention averages of five series, 

'^° Otis and Davidson (The reliability of standard scores in adding ability. 
Ele. School Teacher, 1912, 13 : 91-105) found different types of learning 
ability among 202 8th-grade children who were given 25 tests in adding; 
amount of improvement, moreover, bore no constant relation to initial effi- 
ciency. Wells (The relation of practice to individual differences. Am. Jr. 
Psych., 1912, 23 : 75-88) who trained 10 adult subjects 30 days on adding and 
marking out zeros, concluded that "A superior performance at the beginning 
of special practice is not necessarily, nor even probably, attained at the sacri- 
fice of prospects for further improvement. A high initial efficiency may carry 
with it as much or more prospect of improvement under special practice than 
a low one. . . . Not practice, but practiceability, is responsible for the su- 
perior position of such an individual" (p. 88) ; if the individual's high 
efficiency is the result of greater practice, his position may be near the 
"physiological limit" or end of his practice-curve, and practice-effect may be 
expected to be small ; if it is the product of greater ability (native endow- 
ment), his position is nearer the beginning of his practice-curve and practice- 
effect may be expected to be large (p. 75). 

That the reagent with the higher initial ability improves more in practice 
was found in tests in tapping by Bolton (Relation of motor power to intelli- 
gence. Am. Jr. Psych., 1903, 14:621), in discriminative reaction on a type- 
writer by Culler (Interference and adaptability. Archives of Psych., 1912, 
3: No. 24, p. 57), in marking out zeros by Wells {op. cit. p. 79ff), in adding 
by Wells (op. cit.) and Hahn and Thorndike (Some results of practice in 
addition under school conditions. Jr. Ed. Psych., 1914, 5:79)> and in multi- 
plication by Thorndike (Effect of practice in a case of a purely intellectual 
function. Am. Jr. Psych., 1908, i9:374ff). 

That the reagent with the lower initial ability improves more in practice 
was found in training in learning non-sense syllables by Miiller und Schumann 
(Experimentelle Beitrage zur Untersuchung des Gedachtnisses. Zeits. f. 
Psych., 1894, 6 : 328) and von Sybel (Ueber das Zusammenwirken verschied- 
ener Sinnesgebiete bei Gedachtnisleistungen. Zeits. f. Psych., 1909, 53:356), 
in marking out letters by Binet (Attention et Adaptation. Annee Psych., 
1899, 6:368), in free associations by Wells (Practice effect in free associa- 
tions. Am. Jr. Psych., 1911, 22:2-3), and in adding by Thorndike (Practice 
in the case of addition. Am. Jr. Psych., 1910, 21:485). 

Hollingworth (Individual differences before, during, and after practice. 
Psych. Rev., 1914. 21:1-8), who followed Whitley and Wells in attacking 
the problem directly, gave 175 repetitions of seven tests to 13 adult reagents, 
and calculated the coefficients of correlation between the orders of abilities in 
the 1st, 5th, 25th, 50th, 80th and 130th trials and the last trial. The averages 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 223 

taken on two days, were unreliable. The averages used in our 
Experiment on Sensible Discrimination were much more reliable, 
and they involved the work of three days, about forty-five 
minutes each. In reaction, discrimination, and tachistoscopic 
tests it should probably extend to at least 100 experiments. 

The number of tests should also be limited on account of 
inter-test practice-effect, although this source of error may be 
partly eliminated by arranging the series composing the tests in 
'double fatigue order' ;^^® successive tests may be made equivalent 
in difficulty by using Miiller's 'cyclical changes' ("Zyklischen 
Wechsels").!^! 

The training should perhaps be longer than is usual, and as 
rigorous as circumstances will permit, say six months for such 
work as cannot be trained to maximal efficiency in less time. 

The control reagents should equal the trained reagents in 



of these coefficients were .41, .61, .-73, .77, .85, and .92, indicating a gradual 
approximation, through these various levels of practice, to the final order, 
and, consequently, the insecurity of the results of the early levels as indicative 
of the final relative capacities of the individuals tested. In adding and in 
cancellation of digits the coefficient of r =: + 75 was not reached until the 
2Sth trial; in tapping, the 130th trial; but in naming colors and in coordina- 
tion (aiming) it was reached by the 5th trial. 

An indication of change in processes during practice, which had the effect 
of diminishing individual differences, is to be found in the coefficients of 
correlation between tests at varying stages of practice published by Winch 
(Jr. of Philos. Psych, and Sci. Methods, 1911, 8:377) and Hollingworth 
(Correlation of abilities as affected by practice. Jr. Ed. Psych., 1913, 4: 405ff) ; 
Hollingworth found the coefficients (averaged for his seven tests with 13 
observers) for the ist, 5th, 25th, 80th, and 205th trials to be .065, .280, .320, 
.390, and .490, respectively. 

That differences in rate or amount of improvement in practice may be 
dependent upon differences in mental processes is shown by McMein and 
Washburn (Effect of mental type on the interference of motor habits. Am. 
Jr. Psych., 1909, 20:282ff) who found that reagents who used visual imagery 
freely made more rapid improvement in card-sorting, and overcame interfer- 
ence, produced by turning the compartment-scheme through 180°, more easily, 
than the other reagents. And von Sybel (Zeits. f. Psych., 53 1356) found that 
the practice-effect was greater for reagents with the less initial facility in 
method of learning. 

^^* As was done by Fracker : op. cit. p. 63. 

^*^Vid. Muller: Zeits. f. Psych., 1905, 39:116. 



224 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

number, in initial efficiency, and in facility in introspection, or 
their results may not be comparable with those of the trained 
reagents. If these conditions are met, comparison, both quali- 
tative and quantitative, may be intelligently made; and the 
simplest mathematical treatment w^ould seem the least objection- 
able, even the per cent form of expression being serviceable.^'*^ 
Finally, two more criticisms with reference to the interpreta- 
tion of difference-scores, are important: (i) An exceptionally 
large difference-score is a symptom of radical change in kind of 
work and calls for individual treatment; (2) A small difference- 
score does not necessarily mean that training-effect is absent; 
it may merely be the resultant of positive and negative factors in 
that effect. In either case introspective description of processes 
must, when possible, furnish the chief grounds for interpretation. 



4. Analysis of the 'Common Factor' 



It is generally agreed that 'the Common Factor' is responsible 
for the general effect of special practice ; but as to what it is or 
may be, there is difference of opinion. It is interesting to note 
that its nature is growing more complex as experiment and 
discussion advance. In the early days it was regarded as largely 
physiological and related simply and immediately to the data of 
presentation, or, as mental habit, related definitely to the method 
of the experiment; in marking out words, for example, it was 
said to consist principally in eye-movement, pen-manipulation, 
and in the habit of looking for the least common letter. And 

"^The chief objection to the per cent form of expression involves the 
presumption of a direct comparison of measurements of improvement made 
by reagents who differ widely in initial efficiency, {vid. Whitley's hypothetical 
case showing how varying methods of portraying practice-effect lead to vary- 
ing conclusions, op. cit. 100-105) or who differ widely in their positions with 
reference to the end of their practice-curves (Wells : Am. Jr. Psych., 
23:82-85). This objection appears to be removed if, upon the grounds of 
qualitative difference in work, capacities differing widely in initial status are 
declared to be not directly comparable, and if, upon grounds of individual 
variation in the form of practice-curves or of multiple types of practice- 
curves, the individual's position on the practice-curve cannot be determined 
and, consequently, no remedy is apparent. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 225 

'general effect' was said to decrease directly with decrease in 
similarity of matter and method between the two tests. ^"^^ 

More recently, the 'Common Factor' has been found to be 
made up of subjective factors, not altogether, but largely, inde- 
pendent of the matter and method of the tests (admirably shown 
by individual variation), and to be anything but simple, although 
the illustrations used in discussion are still apt to give it the ap- 
pearance of a simplicity and definiteness which the authors do 
not really intend. ^^^ 

If one set of processes consists of elements a,h^c,d,e, and an- 
other of e,f,g,h,i, training in the one is said to improve the other 
through the common factor e; the effect is greater in case the 
latter set should consist of c,d,e,f,g. Fracker^^^ has suggested 
the term 'Transference' for this kind of influence, but he pro- 
vides for another kind of 'general effect' which he calls 'Spread 
of Training,' which is found when the second set of processes 
consists of f,g,h,i,j, none of the elements of which is common 
with any of the first set but some of which are 'consciously' or 
'subconsciously' connected with some of the latter in the mind of 
the reagent.^"*^ And Sleight^"*^ claims that to be effective the 
'common factor' need not be recognized by the reagent as com- 
mon ; and that it may not be effective at all because it is so firmly 
bound up with its associates that it cannot be lifted out and used 
where its associates are not also common. 

"' Vid. Thorndike and Woodworth, 1901, op. cit. 

"*Vid. Fracker, 1908, op. cit. Sleight, 191 1, op. cit. 

"' Fracker, op. cit. 85. 

"' The writer believes that Fracker has performed a real service in pointing 
out those distinctions and in offering apt technical terms for them ; and he has 
adopted the terms in the preceding pages, but has thought best to characterize 
them in a different way, suggested by the two widely different classes of ele- 
ments that contribute to improvement in training : The sudden rise of the 
curve in the beginning stages is due largely to 'adaptive' changes in which 
elements of former experience have been 'transferred' bodily to the new 
work; the later, more gradual, rise, broken by plateaus, is due to a more 
orderly development which was called "practice effect proper." The influence 
of this practice-effect, apart from transference, was termed "spread of train- 
ing (see p. 230). 

"' Sleight, op. cit. pp. 44of . 



226 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

To locate and define the 'common factor,' a thorough analysis 
of a set of processes into its elements is necessary; and this is 
exceedingly difficult because introspections, even when expertly 
made, are scarcely ever complete descriptions and reveal only 
the elements selected from the content of consciousness which 
enjoy a considerable degree of clearness. No doubt this in- 
completeness tends to a portrayal of the elements as discrete 
units connected in simple mechanical relations somewhat con- 
gruent with the old associational psychology. Admittedly in- 
complete analysis, however, yet shows, when it is at its best, 
that the elements found are not of the same order and are not 
simply related. 

a. Factors involved in one experiment 

The difficulty of defining the common factor and of stating 
the laws under which it operates, may be best apprehended, per- 
haps, by following a single experiment through its three or 
more parts in an effort to locate some of the elements of the 
processes which may serve as the 'Common Factor' : 

(i) The first period, between the 'ready' signal and the ap- 
pearance of the stimulus, is characterized by a set of conscious- 
ness which includes certain predispositions or tendencies which 
affect the course of the processes to follow. It includes an emo- 
tional attitude toward the experiment and a corresponding 'will 
to succeed'; definite ideals of efficiency to be attained; ideas of 
method to be used. This 'anlage' comes to every experiment as 
an adaptation to a more or less novel situation, and is generalized 
therefore from past experience, is modified in recurring experi- 
ments on the basis of the resultant experiences from the fore- 
going; and engages at once the selective function of attention in 
the adaptation, and the function of control in carrying out the 
initial steps of the purpose, such as the readiness for a certain 
direction and distribution of the attention, and renewal of defi- 
nite imagery which is to be used in ready recognition or recep- 
tion of the material. 

(2) The period of dealing with the stimulus may be either 
short or long, (a) If short, as in simple reaction, sensible dis- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 227 

crimination, or tachistoscopic work, quickness of adaptation or 
alertness of the attention, as well as degree of concentration, is 
a condition of good performance, since it affects directly sensi- 
tivity for the stimulus. The direction and distribution of the 
attention prepared for are carried out; part-processes are co- 
ordinated, external and internal distractions are inhibited, un- 
essential imagery is reduced to a minimum, (b) If long, as in 
repeated reactions (card-sorting, typewriter-reaction, marking 
out a's), or in memorizing, there are in addition to the fore- 
going, sustained attention, more complicated part-processes, 
greater use of categories of classification, more development of 
method in process, more use of individual forms of imagery. 
In any case the process varies more with the form (in reaction, 
or memorizing) than with the material of the experiment. 

(3) In tachistoscopic or memory work the period between the 
stimulus and recording may be used chiefly to make imagery 
definite for recording and may also serve for 'maturing' content 
into the field of clearness. In sensible discrimination it may 
serve for comparison of images. The control of the attention is 
therefore important, else the vague imagery will not be so di- 
rectly entertained, and distraction will cause a loss of some of 
the clear imagery. Coordination of retaining and defining proc- 
esses is demanded. 

(4) In the period of recording, coordination of the retentive 
and reproductive processes call for economic distribution of the 
attention. 

A single experiment thus contains many factors of a formal 
nature which cannot be treated as coordinate elements. ^^^ 

b. Practice-effect upon these factors 

Analyses of processes in training and tests in the preceding 
experiments show in what way these factors are changed through 
training : 

(i) The attitude becomes optimal in tone, the 'will to suc- 

"' And consequently cannot be illustrated by a, b, c, d, e, f, etc., as though 
simply and mechanically related either with each other or with 'content' 
elements. 



228 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

ceed' is firmer, the essential processes can be more definitely pre- 
pared for in the set of attention, strong expectation of particular 
content drops away. 

(2) (a) Where the period of dealing with the stimulus is 
short, as in reaction and sensible discrimination, intensity and di- 
rection of attention comes under better control, resulting in 
greater sensitivity for the stimulus, greater preparedness for 
reaction, or higher discriminability, and closer coordination of 
sensation and movement or of discrimination and report. Ad- 
ventitious imagery drops away, (b) Where the period is long 
and the processes are successive and complex, as in reaction with 
discrimination and choice (card-sorting, typewriter-reaction) 
there is first an elaboration of method involving analysis and 
classification of the stimuli and synthesis of like stimuli and simi- 
lar relations into a scheme which mediates between stimulus and 
reaction. Improvement here consists in adaptability in forming 
an adequate scheme, and in an economic distribution of the atten- 
tion to the various part-processes it involves. Then comes the 
dropping away of retarding factors, the stimulus becomes co- 
ordinated with its reaction, and improvement here consists in 
sustained attention and in a distribution of attention which equal- 
izes readiness for all reactions ; kinaesthetic accompaniments of 
recognition (as pronouncing, or movement of some part of the 
body) and of initiating the reaction, and those grosser bodily 
movements, tensions, and strains, accompanying effort, drop 
away. 

In memorizing cards of exposed letters, figures, or symbols, 
methods of analyzing, classifying, and grouping, and of co- 
ordinating part-processes involving disparate imagery and dif- 
ferent grades of clearness, grow up; systems of representative 
imagery (associations) develop; complexity of content increases 
from a two-fold to a four-fold system of imagery, and from a 
two-level to an eight-level grade of clearness. 

Improvement in this part of the experiment involves factors 
which are common to all processes of learning, and also factors 
which are specific to the material or the form of the experiment. 
But the relative importance of these two classes of factors may 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 229 

be illustrated from reaction with discrimination and choice. In 
no exercise, probably, are the special factors more important. 
The process of forming coordinations between specific stimuli 
and specific reactions is the end attained by the training. Yet 
those specific coordinations constitute the least part of the train- 
ing effect ; power of forming coordinations between other specific 
stimuli and other specific reactions has been so much increased 
that learning new systems is greatly facilitated. ^^^ Memorizing 
furnishes another illustration : Methods of apperceiving and rep- 
resenting the material are more permanent than the material 
learned, and have a wider application. ^^^ 

(3) In the period of fixing the imagery and of 'maturing' 
vague imagery into impressions definite enough for cognition, 
improvement consists in a peculiarly delicate control of attention 
in respect to direction, to distribution, and to degree; and this 
experience once realized probably makes it possible to entertain 
any kind of imagery in the same way. (It resembles in nature 
the hearing out of an 'upper partial' from the complex clang of 
a vibrating string, in that stimulation directs the attention; but 
it is not so simple a process.) Improvement through training 
has the effect of increasing sensitivity to central excitations, of 
increasing both the liability and the fidelity of reproduction. 

(4) Improvement in coordinating the retaining, reproductive, 
and recording processes effects an economic distribution of at- 
tention which results in a singular self-possession and poise, a 
satisfying feeling of fitness for the task. Economic distribution 
of the attention to such complex processes is a matter more of 
form than of content, for both stimuli and form of expression 
may change yet that complicated formal process is to some ex- 
tent available. ^^^ 

This statement has necessarily been made in general terms and 
has emphasized the more formal elements which are fitted to 
fill the office of the 'Common Factor.' The more concrete, and 

^*^Vid. Bair, {op. cit.) and Liddle {op. cit.). 

^^"Cf. Fracker {op. cit. gi), and Gamble {op. cit. 97, 149). 

'"C/. Fracker {op. cit. 95). 



230 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

presumably more specific elements, dependent upon the particular 
work of the task, have been abundantly illustrated in the discus- 
sions of test and training results. The more formal elements 
appear at this juncture to need emphasis since they are so likely 
to be overlooked, especially when the analysis is expected to lead 
to simple elements mechanically related. 

c. 'Spread of Training 

When the more orderly changes in processes effected by prac- 
tice in one task are carried over to another we have what the 
writer thinks is best described as a 'Spread of Training.' This 
occurred more conspicuously in the Experiment on Marking out 
Words, the Experiment on Sensible Discrimination, and the Ex- 
periment on Reproduction. The 'Common Factor' appears to 
be formal and to be relatively detached from the data of presen- 
tation, and, in the last experiment, from method. No systems 
of imagery were carried over. The practice-effect consisted in 
stripping the essential process of unessential factors, in facility 
in developing automatic coordinations, in establishing habits of 
higher order, in dealing more effectively with vague imagery, 
etc. This kind of general effect seems to rest more directly upon 
modes of mental processes than upon the material of experience, 
and seems capable of description largely in terms of emotional 
and volitional attitudes and of the control of attention. 

d. 'Transference' 

The term 'Transference' seems particularly applicable to the 
carrying over, from one task to another, of the material of ex- 
perience. It takes place typically in the 'adaptation' to a novel 
exercise, and in the application of physiological processes and 
systems of imagery in an exercise similar to the exercise in 
which they were developed. 

These two kinds of general effect of special practice bear to 
each other a relation analogous to form and matter in logic, and, 
although inseparable, should be discriminated for the purpose 
of prohibiting the limit of search for the 'Common Factor' to the 
case of 'Transference' alone. Enumeration of the elements of 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 231 

the material of experience "will then not exhaust the processes in 
an exercise, to be considered for the purpose of locating the 
'Common Factor.' In preceding pages when the causes of gen- 
eral effect of practice have been discussed, in the review of the 
results of experimentation conducted by others,^^^ and by our- 
selves,^"^ some elements properly falling under the head of 
'Spread of Training' were always included in the consideration. 
If the reader should glance over the 'Summary' (pp. 3 iff) of 
the evidence for relationship between mental processes, from the 
literature, he will note that the eighteen numbered cases all in- 
volve 'Spread of Training,' all but eight involve it almost ex- 
clusively, and only two involve a large share of 'Transference.' 

e. Both kinds of General Effect selected from former experience 

It has already been pointed out^^^ that elements of former ex- 
perience contribute to the work of a test. This is applicable to 
both kinds of general effect, as may be seen by inspecting the 
analyses of processes in the last two experiments. 

To illustrate, with reference to 'Spread of Training,' the 
reagent comes to the experiment with emotional factors, voli- 
tional attitudes, and modes of mental processes already estab- 
lished : His work in tachistoscopic tests and in learning 12- 
letter-rectangles is influenced by favorite letters, preference given 
to right or left position, distribution of attention, etc., in dis- 
crimination tests, by concern for an equitable distribution of 
'greater' and 'less' judgments and by other factors leading to 
constant errors ;^^^ he gives preference to imagery of one par- 
ticular sense-mode, as is illustrated by his representative imagery 
in tests in discrimination, and in memorizing, although he may 
vary this mode upon occasion, for varying content or method ;^^® 
he comes to tests in learning 12-letter-rectangles, and in memor- 

"^ Pp. 19, 22f, 23f, 2-/. 

^"Pp. 36ff, 4ifif, 46ff, 6iff, 173, 2i7ff. 

'=^Pp. 173, i8of. 

"° Cf. F. Angell's Review of "Zur Analyze der Unterschiedsempfindlichkeit" 
von Martin u. Miiller, in Am. Jr. Psych., igoo, 11 : 266-7. 

"° Cf. Segal, J : Ueber den Reproductionstypus und das Reproduzieren von 
vorstellungen. Arch, f .d. ges. Psychol., 1908, 12 : 124-236. 



232 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

izing, with tendencies designed to facilitate a particular method 
of coordinating imagery of different modes, and of placing re- 
liance mainly upon methods of rote learning or of classification 
and grouping, and to tests in compound reaction and in memor- 
izing visual symbols with principles of classification; etc. 

To illustrate with reference to 'Transference,' the reagent ap- 
plies elements of the material of former experience, especially in 
the forms of particular imagery and systems of imagery. To the 
former belong the conventional things by which visual symbols 
are cognized and named for memorizing; groups of letters from 
common phrases and names, cattle-brands, wheat-sack initials, 
names from Biblical and classical literature, etc. used in learning 
i2-letter-rectangles; the various representative visual and kinaes- 
thetic imagery in discrimination of sound, as of flashing light, 
falling bodies, or raising the toes for louder sound ; etc. To the 
latter belong the musical staff for memorizing 'note' forms, 
map directions for cognizing symbols with radii variously 
turned, series of steps for memorizing sound intensities, mathe- 
matical relations for grouping numerals, logical schemes for 
classification of stimuli in compound reaction ; etc. 

This application of the elements of former experience is fa- 
miliar to every one who has considered at all critically the process 
of learning. But it should perhaps be pointed out that in the ap- 
plication the former elements are not merely picked up as stable 
units and mechanically inserted in a new process. The elements 
come with a certain mutation determined by the novelty of the 
situation, and their application involves a degree of invention. 
The elements of consciousness do not appear to behave in the 
manner of reflex-action, and it does not seem possible to get a 
purely 'specific' effect of practice when the practice is a conscious 
process. All elements may be the 'Common Factor' ; all effects 
of conscious practice are to some extent 'general effects.' 

f . Provisional classification of Common Factors 

In view of the complexity of the situation it is hazardous to 
attempt a complete classification of the 'Common Factors,' yet 
the writer feels inclined to offer the following provisional list : 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 233 

Common Factors 
I. Objective. 

1. Likeness of material. 

2. Likeness of form. 
IL Subjective. 

A. Form of Experience. 

1. Aufgabe (interpretation of instructions). 

2. Attitude (emotional, volitional). 

3. Ideals (controlling concepts). 

4. Purpose (definition of volitional attitude). 

5. Intellectual processes. 

a. Elaboration of method. 

b. Short-circuiting of processes. 

c. Higher order of control. 

d. Elimination of accompaniments of 

( 1 ) Discrimination, 

(2) Cognition, 

(3) Movement, 

(4) Reproduction. 

e. Growth in simplicity or complexity of imagery, 

f. Coordination of part-processes. 

6. Control of attention. 

a. In degree, 

b. In direction, 

c. In distribution, 

d. In quickness of adaptation, 

e. In duration of concentration. 

B. Material of Experience. 

1. Sirnple imagery (Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, tac- 

tual, etc.) . 

a. Direct. 

b. Associative. 

(i) In the same sense-mode. 
(2) In different sense-mode. 

2. Compound imagery (Of the above). 

a. Direct. 

b. Associative. 

3. Complex imagery. (Spatial, temporal, causal, his- 

trionic). 

a. Direct. 

b. Associative. 

4. Systems of Imagery (Representative schemes, mne- 

monic devices). 



III. CONCLUSION 



1. Evidence from the literature of experimental psychology 
indicates a functional relationship between various mental proc- 
esses. This relationship is sometimes positive, sometimes nega- 
tive. Specially designed experiments show that 'specific' prac- 
tice is never wholly 'general' in its effects; is often largely 'gen- 
eral,' and is probably always somewhat 'general' Under the 
experimental conditions, the 'general' effect usually ranged, in 
amount, from one-fourth to three-fourths of the gain made in 
the specific practice (vid. Summary, pp. 3ifT).- 

2. Results of the repeated experiments of (a) Marking Out 
Words, and (b) Estimating Weights, support the evidence for 
'general' effect of 'specific' practice, and indicate through intro- 
spective analysis, what change in the practice is responsible for 
the 'general' effect. 

a. The training on Marking out Words, on printed pages, con- 
taining both letters e and s, increased efficiency by reducing the 
recognition of words as containing c and s to its essential process, 
through relieving it of unnecessary and retarding accompani- 
ments, chiefly kinaesthetic, motor, and auditory. This factor in 
the training-effect was responsible for the marked increase in 
efficiency shown in the tests on marking out words containing 
other pairs of letters, on printed pages and on manuscript sheets. 
Some 'specific' effects of practice (such as word-reaction) which 
would not contribute to 'general' effect, or, if so, only in a nega- 
tive form, were also found; but the principal factor of improve- 
ment in the practice was the main factor of improvement in the 

tests, — a general effect (34-39). 

b. The training on Estimating Weights resulted in building 

'^ The statements under this head will be found in more amplilied form 
in the Conclusions of the various experiments, which may be located by refer- 
ence to the Table of Contents. 

^The page numbers in parenthesis refer to material upon which the state- 
ments are based, including conclusions to experiments. 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 235 

up a definite idea of the field represented by the training weights 
(40-120 grams), or in deepening impressions of the weights at 
the upper and lower limits of this field; and these ideas of value 
improved the capacity for estimating weights differing in kind, 
both within the field of training and above it. Both reagents 
showed more improvement in tests on objects dissimilar to the 
training-weights, but within the field, than they made in training ; 
and one reagent made his greatest gain in the test on objects 
above the field. These anomalous results, together with the in- 
trospective evidence of the complexity of the estimating process, 
suggest that simpler processes should be chosen for measuring 
and analyzing 'general' practice-effect (pp. 39-42). 

3. The two experiments, (a) Sensible Discrimination, and 
(b) Reaction with Discrimination and Choice, designed to de- 
termine whether there is 'general' effect of 'special' practice when 
the processes involved are as simple as possible, and when the 
tests differ from the training (a) in sense-mode of reception of 
the stimuli, or (b) in the form of the stimuli and their motor- 
response, but when the tests and training involved the same kind 
of mental activity, contribute results indicative of the real com- 
plexity of the relatively simple processes, and of the 'general' 
nature of practice-effect. 

a. Training in Sensible Discrimination of intensities of Sound 
resulted in improvement in efficiency through divesting the dis- 
criminating-process of its unessential and complicating factors 
consisting in irrelevant or fantastic imagery, indirect sets of at- 
tention, vascillating attention, expectation, etc., all of which 
render judgment illusionable, and this improvement was trans- 
ferred to the tests in sensible discrimination of shades of gray 

(pp. 42-50). 

b. The training in sorting cards bearing distinctive colors into 

a cabinet with six compartments increased efficiency in Reaction 
with Discrimination and Choice, which was transferred to reac- 
tion to letters on a typewriter, (a) noticeably in regularity with 
two reagents for whom the latter had become automatic before the 
training in card-sorting was begun, and (b) markedly in speed 



236 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

with two reagents for whom the latter was in course of practice. 
The practice-effect responsible for the improvement in the card- 
sorting and for the improvement transferred to the typewriter- 
reaction was ( I ) the habit of stripping the essential process of its 
adventitious accessories, consisting chiefly in (a) kinaesthetic and 
verbal elements accompanying and retarding the recognition of 
the stimulus, (b) mnemonic schemes which served the purpose of 
building up coordinations between stimulus and reaction, (c) false 
motions, and (d) bodily strain, and (2) such control of the atten- 
tion (a) that the various possible reactions were about equally 
prepared for and (b) that the series of continuous reactions were 
not so frequently broken by balks due to distraction (pp. 50-64). 

4. Disagreement in the results of investigations as to the ex- 
tent of the general effect of special practice, in hypotheses pro- 
posed for the causes of the transference of practice-effect, and 
the frequency of cases of an anomalous character which defy any 
consistent hypothesis, are probably due to differences in technical 
procedure in experimentation, to differences in kind and length 
of training and in the relation of training to tests, and to dif- 
ferences in statistical treatment of results. They call for more 
qualitative investigation to the end of determining more precisely 
how training affects the processes engaged in the training, how 
training-effect affects the test-capacities, and how training-effect, 
both direct and 'general,' may be properly expressed in quanti- 
tative terms. A study of anomalous cases suggests the import- 
ance of determining (a) the extent of variability in processes, 
both with a single reagent and between different reagents who 
set themselves to the same objective task, (b) the causes of this 
variability, and (c) its effect upon the scores (pp. 64-69). 

5. The Experiment on Attention, which provided a qualitative 
study of the kind, extent, and causes of variability in processes 
engaged by a single reagent in a single test and in a range of 
tests, and of variability between processes engaged by different 
reagents in identical tests, yielded results which show: 

a. That it is the rule for the individual reagent to vary his 
processes while at work on a single test and often to change 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 237 

radically, in the final test, the methods of work employed in the 
first. 

b. That the causes of this variability, beyond general condi- 
tions of health, interest, etc., and incidental occurrences, such as 
winking at the moment of the presentation of the stimuli, and 
accidents in manipulation of a key, etc., were of a fairly specific 
nature varying in accordance with the nature of the work of the 
test, such as voluntary or undesigned shifts of the attention to 
various elements of the processes engaged, changes in the extent 
of the distribution of the attention over part-processes and their 
coordination, the constructing of more adequate methods, and 
the practice-effect of dropping out of the process unessential 
factors, in heightening sensitivity, discrimination, reproduction, 
habituation to distraction, and in building up habits of higher 
order. 

c. That in almost every test individual reagents differ from 
each other, often greatly, in the way in which they performed 
the work of the test. 

d. That they differ in the 'aufgabe,' or their understanding of 
the instructions for the test, in their general experience from 
which elements are selected, by way of adaptation, to begin work, 
in the order and degree of the changes in processes due to the 
variability in the single reagent's work noticed in (b) above 

.(pp. 64-184, particularly 167-173). 

6. The training results of this experiment brought into clear 
relief the fact that practice-effect itself involves changes in pro- 
cesses : At the beginning of training on Test 17, only letters that 
had been clearly seen were recorded ; at the end, letters were cor- 
rectly recorded that had not been "seen," but that 'matured' from 
the 'fringe' content of consciousness ; the conquest of the 'fringe' 
content was a practice-effect that extended the area of distinct 
perception whilst increasing efficiency on its own account. At 
the beginning of training on Test 13, only letters the visual im- 
pression of which was converted into kinaesthetic-auditory (ver- 
bal) imagery were recorded; at the end, letters were recorded 
from four distinct kinds of imagery ; at the beginning, the process 
was a simple 'rote' process ; at the end, it was a complex process 



238 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

involving coordination of many part-processes. The conception 
that repetition in the learning-process increases efficiency simi- 
larly to repetition of a skilled movement in fixing a habit is an 
absurdity against which the fact of the increasing keenness of 
consciousness accompanying the progress of the former ought 
to have been sufficient warning. Repetition in learning changes 
the process (pp. 173-176). 

7. Altho the series of tests proved inadequate as a measure of 
attention, there was some quantitative indication of a practice- 
effect upon certain forms of attention (or attentive forms of 
consciousness) that were of general application: (i) The con- 
trol of attention to seize the stimuli of the moment; (2) equit- 
able distribution of the attenion over the various part-processes, 
leading to coordination of disparate imagery, of processes of re- 
tention and reproduction, or of imagery and movement; (3) sus- 
tained application, involving inhibition to external and internal 
distraction; (4) an intensity of application, effective in lowering 
thresholds of sensation and reproduction, and in fusing co- 
ordinations (pp. 178-180). 

8. There was ample introspective evidence for general effect of 
special practice, both negative and positive. Not only were 
methods of work, forms of processes, and systems of imagery, 
transferred from one kind of work to another, but in the adapta- 
tion to the novel work of the tests elements of former experience 
were selected and applied, which when acquired must always 
have been 'specific' and as applied are always 'general' (pp. 180- 
181). 

9. The Experiment on Reproduction supplemented the preced- 
ing experiment in illustrating the great variability in processes 
engaged in a single test, locating the variability in each successive 
'moment' of the single test, and in offering new evidence, both 
quantitative and qualitative, for the positive and negative general 
effect of special practice, when the tests and training differed so 
greatly in both material and method as to exclude a 'transference' 
of the elements of experience (184-219). 

10. The training on discrimination of sound did not result in 
improvement in efficiency with the training material. But, ac- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 239 

cording to introspective evidence, it effected changes in the 
processes employed. Quantitative analysis showed that the 
practice-effect of the evident exercise of retention and reproduc- 
tion of auditory and other imagery 'spread' to the tachistoscopic 
test of Recognition or Choice of One of Two Letters, and to the 
test on the Complete Learning of series of visual symbols, both 
of which involved retention and reproduction of imagery (pp. 
184-219). Retrogression in efficiency in the course of practice, 
and failure to apply methods developed in training to material 
slightly different, etc., indicate a negative special effect of special 
practice, which should be taken into account when testing for 
general effect. The retrogressive effect shows itself in negative 
general effect in tests similar to the training, and is not incon- 
sistent with positive general effect in tests less similar to the 
training (p. 219). 

11. Data from the latter two experiments indicate the im- 
portant bearing which variability in processes has upon the quan- 
titative treatment of results (pp. 167-176, 181 -184). Certain 
precautions need to be taken in order that the results of the test- 
training-test type of experiment may not be misleading (pp. 219- 
224). It would seem that purely quantitative results are 
worthless. 

12. Introspective description of the processes involved in the 
successive 'moments' of a single experiment, and of practice- 
effect upon them, indicates such a complex relationship of the 
elements or part-processes that are fitted to perform the office of 
the 'Common Factor' that it seems doubtful if there are any 
purely 'specific' elements in the conscious process, The 'Com- 
mon Factor' may be constituted of formal modes of conscious- 
ness (emotional and volitional attitudes, modes and habits of 
consciousness, control of attention) in which case it effects 
'Spread of Training'; or it may be constituted of the material 
of consciousness (imagery, systems of imagery, direct and repre- 
sentative) in which case it effects 'Transference' of the 
elements of experience. Search for the common factor should 
not be so conducted as to locate only the latter form; experi- 
mental evidence indicates that the former is more largely 



240 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

responsible for the general effect of special practice. In both 
forms it is selected^ from former experience and applied with 
some degree of invention to a more or less novel situation. It 
would seem that 'adaptability' consists in this 'general' use 
of the forms and elements of experience which had their origin 
in 'specific' reactions to specific stimuli,' and that the desideratum 
of the 'learning process' consists in extending the 'general' 
applications as widely as possible.* There is evidence that all 
modes and elements of experience may be the 'Common Factor' ; 
that all effects of conscious practice are to some extent 'general' 
effects (pp. 224-233). 

13. Discussion throughout the text makes it clear that much 
further work is needed in this field. With improved method a 
complete survey of functional relationship between the mental 
processes should be made. Many outstanding questions await 
attack : . Conditions favoring and limiting 'general' effect, the 
scope and causes of negative influence, the duration of direct, 
and of the various 'general' applications of, trainir^-effect, 
and its dependence upon length and rigor of training and upon 
kind of work; relative dependence of individual variation in 
processes upon nature and nurture ; dependence of efficiency upon 
training in a 'best way' of performing a mental task, etc.^ 

^ This selection and application is not necessarily purposeful or even evident 
to introspection. The value of introspection, as has been pointed out in the 
text (p. 181), does not rest upon its assertion or denial of relationship be- 
tween processes, although its testimony concerning this may often be true, 
but upon a sufficiently complete and accurate analysis of processes that their 
relationship may be evident. It is particularly competent to show in this 
way 'Transference' of the elements of experience; 'Spread of Training,' 
however, is likely to escape detection unless analyses are especially complete, 
for it is sometimes extremely subtle and evident only through quantitative 
analysis (as in the Experiment on Reproduction). 

* Colvin (Some facts in partial justification of the so-called Dogma of 
Formal Discipline. Univ. 111. Bull. 1910. 7 : No. 26, p. 31 ; also, The Learn- 
ing Process. 191 1. Pp. 24^2^) makes a plea for the application of this prin- 
ciple in school work, and gives "rules for securing transfer," or for securing 
a "general" training. 

'The circuitous process of testing and abandoning various methods of work 
which often retards reagents in course of practice, and the arrest of an occa- 



FORMAL DISCIPLINE 241 

After investigation has profited by adult introspective analysis 
and it has been carried out with adolescents, trained in introspec- 
tion, and has been quantitatively checked by results from children, 
we may perhaps by reason of our intimate knowledge of the 
functional relationship of mental processes, the integration of 
experience, the formal learning-process, be able to determine 
whether the limited time given to formal education should be 
spent primarily for discipline or for knowledge, whether infor- 
mation and aims belonging to adult vocations are as vital in the 
educative processes of children as such information and aims 
as are incidental to the successful functioning of experience 
through graded steps in a formal training. 

14. Meanwhile, experimental research in the psychological 
laboratory has established certain functional relationships be- 
tween mental processes more or less simple, and has singled out 
factors responsible for the transference of improvement from 
one exercise to another. Its contribution to the general question 
of formal discipline is important, in that it shows the general 
effect of special practice; but it is limited in its scope to fairly 
simple processes, to periods of short training, and, for intro- 
spections, to reagents upon whom training does not produce great 
practice-effect. Were the processes as complex and various as 
those engaged in the study of Greek, Mathematics, or Science; 
were the training to extend over four school-years instead of 
over ten weeks under limiting laboratory conditions ; and were 
the subjects in the plastic period of the 'teens,' it is conceivable 
that the extent to which the training is general would be found 
to be greatly in excess of the laboratory figures. 

sional reagent upon a low plateau by reason of a peculiarly inept method of 
work, suggest that training in 'good form' might be the better part of prac- 
tice, especially in the early stages, but also in the later stages which involve 
transitions to new coordinations of part-processes. This phase of practice is 
considered important in athletics, and in the trades involving skilled move- 
ments; and Swift (Studies in the psychology and physiology of learning. 
Am. Jr. Psych., 1903, 14 : 224) suggests its application to the early stages of 
learning skill, while Bryan and Harter (Studies on the telegraphic language: 
The acquisition of a hierarchy of habits. Psych. iRev., 1899, 6:375), by 
pointing out the end-processes of training, suggest its place in the acquisition 
of skill in such types of learning as involve hierarchies of habits. 



;<;42 JOHN EDGAR CO OVER 

15. The contribution of Experimental Psychology to the edu- 
cational theory of training is timely, since intensity of work 
and drill^ is coming into vogue again. It is found that great 
effort and rigorous drill are necessary to pass through 'plateaus 
of growth' or, as Bagley^ calls them, "sloughs of despond." 
There seems to be a disposition to find the conditions of training 
that will "unlock reservoirs of higher power,"^ and those who 
find satisfaction in physiological explanations are turning to 
the theory of the 'synapse'^ and the "All or None"^^ principle. 
This increase of power is deemed necessary for the acquisition of 
such mental habits and such knowledge as, under the conditions of 
our civilization, constitute a reasonable preparation for complete 
living. 

' Beckwith : Drill, a chapter in pedagogy. 1905. 

Book: Psychology of skill. Univ. Mont. Bull. 1908. P. 53. 

Bryan and Harter : Studies in telegraphic language. Psych. Rev. 1897. 4: 27. 

Swift : Learning to Telegraph. Psych. Bull. 1910. 7 : 149. 

Wallin : Has the Drill become obsolete? Jr. Ed. Psych. 1910. 1:200. 
' Bagley : Craftsmanship in teaching. Macm. 191 1. 

"James: Energies of men. Science, 1907. 25:321; also Am. Mag. Nov. 1907. 
* Sherrington : Integrative action of the nervous system. Scribner's. 1906. 
" Stiles : "All or None" principle and its implications. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev.. 
1910. 15:1. 



IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(Numbers in parenthesis indicate the pages in the text upon which the 
reference is used). 
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48:303. (70). 
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orthography. Psychol. Rev. Mon., 1909, No. 44:127-158. (167). 
Aiken, Catherine. Methods of mind training concentrated attention 

and memory. Am. Bk., C1895, (3). 
Alechsieff, Nicholaus. Reactionszeiten bei Durchgangsbeobachtungen. 

Phil. Stud., 1900, 16:1-60. (112, 119). 
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California, 191 1). (3). 
Discrimination of clangs for different intervals of time. 

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(Review of Martin und Miiller). Am. Jr. Psychol., 1900, 

11:266-7. (198,231). 
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nach der Methode der mittleren Abstufungen. Phil. Stud., 1892, 

7:414-468. (207). 
and Harwood, Henry. Experiments in discrimination of 

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1900;11:67-79. (134). 
Angell, James R. The determination of mental imagery. Psychol. 

Rev. Mon., 1910, No. 53:61-108. (177). 
The doctrine of formal discipline in the light of the prin- 
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and habit. Psychol. Rev., 1896, 3:245-258. (9, 108, no, 112, 

Arnold, Felix. The initial tendency in ideal revival. Am. Jr. 

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Bair, J. H. The practice curve. A study in the formation of habits. 



244 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

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learning. (45, 57, 188). 
Effect of practice in case of a purely intellectual function. 

Am. Jr. Psychol., 1908, 19:374-384. (222). 
Memory for paired associates. Psychol. Rev., 1908, 

15:122-138. (149). 
Practice in the case of addition. Am. Jr. Psychol., 1910, 

2i:483ff. (222). 
and Woodworth, R. S. The influence of improvement in 

one mental function upon the efficiency of other functions. 

Psychol. Rev., 1901, 8:247-261, 384-395, 553-564- (7. 9. 34, 65, 

113, 169, 225). 
Titchener, Edward Bradford. Experimental psychology. Vol. I, 

Part II, (150) ; vol. II, Part I, (74) ; Part II, (74, 112). 
Lectures on the elementary psychology of feeling and at- 
tention. N. Y., Macm., 1908. (71, 108, 134). 

Simple reactions. Mind, 1895, N.S., 4:74-81. (108). 

A Text-book of psychology, N. Y., Macm., 191 1. (299). 

Toulouse, fi. Enquete medico-psychologique sur les rapports de la 

superiorite intellectuelle avec la nevropathie. (Emile Zola) 

1896. (69, 113, 142, 145, 150). 
Tschisch, W. von. Experimentelle Studien iiber das Gedachtniss 

von Gehorswahrnehmung. Zeits. d. Psychiatric, 1896. (Quoted 

in Zeits. f. Psychol, 23:233). (197). 
Ueber das Gedachtniss fiir Sinneswahrnehmungen. Drit- 

ter Internationaler Congress fiir Psychol, in Miinchen, 1896, 

95 ff. (197,198). 
Urbantschitsch, V. Ueber den Einfluss einer Sinneserregung auf 

die iibrigen Sinnesempfindungen. Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol., 

1888,42:154-182. (5,6). 
Vogt, Ragnar. Ueber Ablenkbarkeit und Gewohnungsfahigkeit. 

Psychol. Arbeiten, 1899-1901, 3:62-201. (5, 113). 



254 JOHN EDGAR COOVER 

Volkmann, A. W. Ueber den Einfluss der Uebung auf das Erkennen 

raumlichen Distanzen. Ber.d.Kgl.-Sachs.ges.d.Wiss., 1858, 

io:38ff. (6). 
Wallin, J. F. Wallace. The doctrine of formal discipline. Jr. Ed. 

Psychol., 1910, I :i68-i7i. (30). 
Has the drill become obsolescent? Jr. Ed. Psychol., 1910, 

1:200 if. (242). 
Spelling efficiency in relation to age, grade, and sex, and 

the question of transfer. Baltimore: Warwick and York, 1911. 

(4). 

Warner, Charles Dudley. (Editorial in Harpers Mag., March 1895, 

on Miss Aiken's work). (3). 
Wells, F. L. A neglected measure of fatigue. Am. Jr. Psychol., 

1908, 19:345-358. (164, 165). 
Normal performance in the tapping test. Am. Jr. Psychol., 

1908, 19:437-483. (82, 164). 
Practice effect in free association. Am. Jr. Psychol., 

1911, 22:1-13. (222). 
The relation of practice to individual differences. Am. 

Jr. Psychol., 1912, 23:75-88. (113, 116, 222, 224). 
Wessely, R. Zur Frage des Auswendiglernens. Neue Jahrb. f. 

Pad., 1905, 8:297-309, 373-386. (18). 
Whipple, Guy Montrose. An analytical study of the memory image 

and the process of judgment in the discrimination of clangs and 

tones. Am. Jr. Psychol., 1901, 12:409-457, 1902, 13:219-268. 

(135, 138, 167, 177, 190, 194). 
Effect of practice upon range of visual attention and of 

visual apprehension. Jr. Ed. Psychol., 1910, 1:249-262. (160). 
Manual of mental and physical tests. Baltimore, 1910. 

(75, 78, 79,. 113, 135, 142, 146, 148, 150, 157, 158, 164). 
Reaction-time as a test of mental ability. Am. Jr. Psychol., 

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Psychol. Rev., 1896, 3:258-269. (167). 
Whitley, Mary Theodora. An empirical study of certain tests for 

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(69, 113 ,222,224). 
Winch, W. H. Accuracy in school children. Does improvement in 

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The faculty doctrine, correlation, and educational theory. 

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(168, 223). 
Further work on numerical accuracy in school children. 

Does improvement in numerical accuracy transfer? Jr. Ed. 

Psychol, 191 1, 2 :262 ff. (4). 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 255 

Immediate memory in school children. I. Visual. Br. Jr. 

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Immediate memory in school children. II. Auditory. Br. 

Jr. Psychol., 2 :52-57. (142). 
Some relations between substance memory and productive 

imagination in school children. Br. Jr. Psychol., 191 1, 4:95-125. 

Transfer of improvement in memory in school children. 

Br. Jr. Psychol., 1908, 2:284-293. (4) ; 1910, 3:386ff. (4). 
Wissler, Clark. Correlation of mental and physical tests. Psychol. 

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Wolfe, H. K. Untersuchungen iiber das Tongedachtniss. Philos. 

Stud., 1886, 3:534-571- (134, 197, 198). 
Woodworth, R. S. Accuracy of voluntary movement. Psychol. 

Rev. Mon., 1899, No. 13, 3:1-114. (4). 
Non-sensory components of sense perception. Jr. Philos. 

Psychol, and Sci. Meth., 1907, 4:169-176. (190). 
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Wreshner, Arthur. Die reproduktion und Assoziation von Vorstell- 

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Wundt, Wilhelm. Grundriss der Psychologie. lOte auf., 191 1. 

(160). 
Grundziige der physiologischen Psychologie. 5te auf., 1902. 

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Principles of physiological psychology. Vol. I (tr. by 

Titchener; § 3 of the Introduction, from the 1893 ed., 18 ff), 

(2). . . ; 

Vorlesungen iiber die Menschen- und Tierseele. Leipzig 

1911, 5te auf. (112). 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX A 

TABLE I. 

Improvement as Shown by Tests on Other Functions 

Before and After ii Days' Training on e-s 

(Text p. 35) 



Reagent Gs 


Reagent Cr 


Speed in Sec. 


Accuracy 


Speed in Sec. Accuracy 


Before ^^^^.' 


No. of Words 


Before 
Train- 
ing 


After 
Train- 
ing 


No. of Words 


Training 


1 ram- 
ing 


Marked 
B. A. 


Omitted 
B. A. 


Marked 
B. A. 


Omitted 
B. A. 


e— s 


199.5 


85.6 


35 


45 


12 


2 


133-3 


91.8 


46 


47 


5 





i— t 
s-p 
c— a 
e— r 


390 
111.5 
198 
223 


108.6 

124.8 
134 


56 
9 

22 

53 


40 
15 
19 

53 


3 

I 

9 


9 


6 
7 


136.9 

89.4 

1 16.6 

166.5 


120.2 
66.2 
85.6 

135-6 


37 
15 

25 
52 


42 
10 

27 
58 


4 
2 

8 


8 
I 




Totals 


922.5 


462.4 


140 


127 


13 


22 


509.4 


407.6 


129 


137 


'4 


11 


a— n 
l-o, 
e— r 


248 
178 
214 


177.8 
133-5 
138 


37 

a! 


39 

6 

40 


9 
1 

7 


10 

4 
6 


172.8 

135-8 
212.8 


142.2 
88.6 
134 


31 
16 

62 


35 

9 

42 


15 


7 


14 

I 

4 


Totals 


640 


449-3 


113 85 


17 


20 


521.4 


364.8 


109 


86 


22 


19 


Nouns 
e — s 


160 

175 


I37.8 
99.2 


79 
38 


77 
49 


2 
2 





196.7 
137-6 


184.6 
93 


66 
42 


80 
46 


4 

2 


11 

3 


Functions on 
SameMt '1 922.5 
Diff."640 


462.4 
449-3 


140 
"3 


127 
85 


13 
17 


22 
20 


509.4 
521.4 


407.6 
364.8 


129 
109 


137 
86 


14 
22 


11 
19 


Total 1562.5 


911.7 


253 


212 


30 


42 


1030.8 


772.4 


238 


223 


36 


30 



26o 



APPENDIX A 



TABLE II 

Improvement Shown by Percentages of Tests after Training to Tests before 
Training (Text p. 35) 

Reagent Gs. Reagent Cr 

, « ^ , « ^ 

Speed Accuracy Speed Accuracy 

% of After-Test % Words Mkd % of After Test % Words Mkd 



A3 



1.28 



.69 



I. II 



i-t" 

s-p 
c-a 
e-r 


.28 
.85 

.60 


.86 
i.ii 

.76 
1.03 


.88 
.74 

.81 


•93 

1.03 
.93 

M5 


a-n' 

1-0 

e-r 


•71 
75 
.64 


.99 
.64 
'97 


.82 
.65 
•63 


1.06 

.90 

1.02 


Nouns 
e-s 


.86 

•57 


1.00 
1.0S 


.94 
.68 


% 


Functions on 
Same Mat'l 
Diflf. Mat'l 


.50 
.70 


.93 
.93 


.80 
.70 


1.03 

.98 


Of Total 


.58 


•93 


.76 


I. or 



^ The Trained Function. 

' Employed on Same Material as Training Mat'l, . . . Printed Columns. 

* Employed on Different Material, . . . Manuscript. 



iReagent Gs. 



TABLE III 
Quantitative Results (Text, p. 39) 

Total Dev. What % of Avg. Dev. in 
Whole Weight Lifted Grams 



Tests in Training Series 
(40-120 grams) (Avg. 80) 

Objects inside of field 

(49-113 grams) (Avg. 67.5) 



Objects outside of field 
(146-1870) (Avg. 552.7 g.) 



Before After 
12.1% 8.2% 

29.7% 22.1% 
52.8% 29.8% 



Before After 
9.7 7-2 

20.1 14.9 
291.9 165.6 



%of 
Gain 



25.8% 
28.4% 

43-3% 



oJ I I \ I \ \ 1 I ! 

e-s i-t s-p c-a e-r a-n l-o e-r Nouns e-s 
PLATE I. Reagent Gs, Efficiencies (in speed) in other I\mctions 
fcefora and after Training on the e-s Function. The filled portion 
shows ctoount of improvement. (From Table I.) 



1^ rt"J^ 




e-3 i-t a-p c-a e-r a-n l-o e-r Nouns e-s 
PLATE HI* Reagent Gs. Gain shorn in per cent. Checked portion 
shows amount of improvement transferred. y , . 




e-e i-t 8-p c-a e-r ' a-n l-o e-r Nouns e-e 
FL&TB IT. Reagent Cr. 
(See Text, p. 35) 




i-t 



s-p 



c-a e-r 



a-n 1-0 



e-r Nouns . e-s 



PLATE V. Gs, reagent. , Accuracy in percent of initial capacity. 
Checked portion shows amount of change. (From Table II.) 



100 % \/// 



7777, 



ZZZZ. 



^ 



y^^^/A 



'///t 



50l_ 



ZZZZc 



e-8 i-t s-p c-a e-r a-n l-o e-r Noune e»8 
PLATE VI. Reagent Cr. 




8 9 10 11 



PLATE VIT. Practice- Curve from tests taken at beginning and end of 
each day's training of the e-s Function. 

(See Text, pp. 35, 38) 



APPENDIX A 



263 



Reagent Cr. 



TABLE IV 
(Text, p. 39) 

Total Dev. What % of Avg. Dev. in 
Whole Weight Hefted Grams 



Tests in Training Series 
(40-120 grams) (Avg. 80 g.) 



Before After 
11.2% 09.0% 



Objects inside of field 26.1% 18.5% 

(49-113 grams) (Avg. 67.5 g.) 

Objects outside of field i5-3% 52-7% 

(146-1870 g.) (Avg. 552.7 g.) 



Before After 
8.7 7.2 



%of 
Gain 



20% 

17.6 12.5 29.2% 

84.8 291.6 -243.9% 



TABLE V 
(Text, p. 39) 



Reagent Gs. 


















Suggestion 


















Blocks 




















Wt. of 
Blocks 


Bi 


;fore Training 


After Train 


ing 






( 




> 


r 






^ 






ISt 


2d 


Total 


99th 


looth 




Total 




40 





+ 15 


15 


+5 


+5 




10 




45 


+15 





15 





+ ro 




10 




50 


—10 


— 10 


20 


— 10 


+5 




15 




55 


+15 


+ro 


25 


— 5 


+5 




ID 




60 


+15 





15 


5 


— 10 




15 




65 


—IS 


+15 


30 





+5 




5 




70 





—5 


5 





—5 




5 




75 











+5 







5 




80 


+5 


+ 10 


15 





— 10 




ID 




85 


— 20 


— 20 


40 


—15 


— 10 




25 




90 


+15 


— 5 


20 


+5 


+15 




20 




95 


+15 


— 20 


35 





+20 




20 




100 


+35 


—15 


50 





+ 10 




10 




105 





—5 


5 





— 10 




10 




no 


+20 


— 5 


25 


+10 


— 20 




30 




115 











— 5 


—15 




20 




120 


+5 


— 10 


15 


— 10 


—15 




25 


Totals 




185 


145 


330 


75 


170 




245 


Average 






165 








122.5 
















25.8% Gain 



264 






APPENDIX A 
TABLE VI 














(Text, 


p. 39) 








Reagent Cr. 


















Wt. of 


Be 


:fore Training 


After Training 




Blocks 




A 






^ 






f 




\ 


( 




N 






ISt 


2d 


Total 


99th 


looth 


Total 




40 






















45 


—5 





5 


—5 


—5 


10 




50 





— 5 


5 





+15 


15 




55 


+5 


+10 


15 


+5 


—5 


10 




60 


— 10 


—15 


25 





+10 


10 




65 


+15 


+ 10 


25 


+ 10 


+10 


20 




70 


+5 


—15 


20 





+5 


5 




75 


+20 


—25 


45 


— 10 


+5 


15 




80 


—30 





30 


—20 


—5 


25 




85 





—10 


10 


—15 


+20 


35 




90 


+20 


+5 


25 


— ID 


+15 


25 




95 


+20 





20 


+ 15 


—5 


20 




100 





+10 


10 


— 10 


— 10 


20 




105 


+ 10 


+5 


15 


—5 


—5 


10 




no 


— 20 


— 10 


30 


—5 


+5 


JO 




115 





+5 


5 


—5 


—5 


10 




120 


— 20 


—5 


25 





—5 


5 


Totals 


17s 


175 


130 


305 


115 


130 


245 


Average 


2 






152.5 






122.5 
20% Gain- 



TABLE VII 







(Text, p. 


39) 








/-•_ 




Deviations on 


Objects 








Gs. 




Be 


fore Training 


Aftei 


r Training 


Inside Field 


Wt. 


1st 


2d 


Total 


1st 


2d 


Total 


I. Big Wt. 


81 


—31 


-6 


2,7 


—26 


—16 


42 


2. Bar soap 


113 


—13 


+2 


15 


+ 13 


—28 


61 


3. Eraser 


67 


— 22 


—17 


39 


— 2 


—7 


9 


4. Pocket Bk. 


81 


— I 


— 21 


22 


— I 


— I 


2 


5. "Outlook" 


105 


—60 


—60 


120 


—30 


—50 


80 


6. Keys 


52 


— 2 


—7 


9 


—7 


+3 


10 


7. $3 silver 


80 


+10 


+20 


30 


—5 





5 


8. Small Bottle 


(>i 


—18 


—13 


31 


—18 


—8 


26 


9. Elec. bulb 


49 


-H6 


+46 


52 


+21 


+26 


47 


10. Elec. switch 


84 


+21 


+26 


47 


+6 


+11 


17 


Totals 


675 


184 


218 


402 


149 


150 


299 


Average 








201 






149 
28.4 Gain 







APPENDIX A 






266 






TABLE Vin 












(Text, p. 


39) 








Outside Field 
















II. Big Bottle 


317 


—97 


—127 


224 


— 127 


+8 


135 


12. "Outwest" 


280 


—105 


— 100 


205 


—80 


—30 


no 


13. Mucilage 


330 


—143 


—133 


276 


+67 


—33 


100 


14. Miinsterberg 


714 


—479 


—364 


843 


—114 


—214 


328 


15. Mem. App. Wt. 


941 


— 641 


—441 


1082 


+159 


+359 


518 


16. Ps Molding 


146 


—16 


—16 


32 


—16 


—6 


22 


17. Hammer 


310 


-165 


— 120 


285 


—135 


+65 


200 


18. Tin Box 


462 


—257 


— 162 


419 


—62 


+38 


100 


19. Key Mem. 


154 


—24 


—9 


33 


+6 


—4 


ID 


20. Psy. Rev. 


1870 


—1370 


— 1070 


2440 


—920 


—870 


1790 


Totals 


5527 


3297 


2542 


5839 


1686 


1627 


3313 


Average 








2919.5 




43 


1656.5 

.3% Gain 






TABLE IX 












(Text, p. 


39) 












Deviations on 


Objects 








Cr. 


















Wt. 


Be 


fore Training 


After Training 


Inside Field 


ist 


2d 


Total 


1st 


2d 


Total 


I. Big Wt. 


81 


— I 


-6 


7 


— II 


— II 


22 


2. Bar Soap 


113 


—13 


-38 


51 


—3 


+2 


5 


3. Eraser 


67 


—17 


— 22 


39 


—7 


—7 


14 


4. Pocket Bk. 


81 


+ 19 


+29 


48 


— ^21 


+29 


50 


5. "Outlook" 


105 


—5 


—5 


10 


—15 


—5 


20 


6. Keys 


52 


— 2 


—7 


9 


+13 


+8 


21 


7. $3 Silver 


80 


-|-20 


+40 


60 


+ 15 


+20 


35 


8. Small Bot. 


63 


—7 


+27 


34 


—18 


—18 


36 


9. Elec. Bulb 


49 


—4 


+41 


45 


+ 1 


—4 


5 


10. Elec. Switch 


84 


—24 


+26 


50 


+26 


+16 


42 


Totals 


675 


112 


241 


353 


130 


120 


250 


Average 








176.5 




25 


125 
1.2% Gain 








TABLE X 












( 


Text, p. 


39) 








Outside Field 
















II. Big Bottle 


2,-^7 


—117 


—117 


234 


—77 


—77 


154 


12. "Out West" 


280 


—5 


+120 


125 


+70 


+20 


90 


13, Mucilege 


333 


+67 


+17 


84 


+667 


+567 


1234 


14. Munsterberg 


714 


—214 


—114 


328 


+286 


+86 


372 


15. Mem. App. Wt. 941 


+59 


+59 


118 


+59 


+59 


118 


16. Pc Molding 


146 


+104 


+ 104 


208 


— 21 


—16 


37 


17. Hammer 


310 


— 10 


+90 


100 


+40 


+90 


130 


18. Tin Box 


462 


-87 


—62 


149 


+238 


—162 


400 


19. Key Mem. 


154 


+4 


+96 


100 


—14 


—24 


38 


20. Psy. Rev. 


1870 


+130 


— 120 


250 


+1130 


+2130 


3260 


Totals 


5527 


797 


• 899 


1696 


2602 


3231 


5833 


Average 








848 




2916.5 
243.9% Loss 



Grama 
100_- 



75. 



50 _ 



25_ 



^__^ Weight of Objoct 

. .. Average deviation After Training 
—p. Average deviation Before Training 



Object 9 



10 



PLATE Vin. Reagent Ga, Weights of Objects Inside the Field, and 
average deviations of Judgnents. (From Table VII.) 



1200, 
llOO. 
1000, 

90QJ 
800, 
700. 
60Q_| 
500. 
40Q_4 
300 
200_ 
100. 




— r~U rM— — 1 

^---4. ■.„-[- j Lii-t"~T — i 






'ObJ9Ct 16 19 \'4 

Pl,AT!: I7v. Rsa^aat 



U 



15 



Obiacts Outsicio '^f jiald, 

(See Text, p. 40) 



Oram* 
100—, 



75. 



50. 



25. 



Weight of Objects 

Average Deviation Before Training 

Average Deviation After Training 



T 



10 



PLATE X. Reagent Cr, Weights of Objects inside the Field, and 
average deviations of judgments. (From Table IX.) 



120Q_ 

UOO- 

100Q_ 

90Q_ 

80Q_ 

70Q_ 

6oa_ 

500_ 
40a_ 
300_ 
20CL_ 
10Q_ 



U 



Objfco'c 1* 



19 12 17 11 13 18 14 15 

PLATE XI. Reagent Cr. Objects Outside of Field. 
(See Text, p. 40) 



20 



APPENDIX A 



^ 



Degrees of 

White 

i6o° 
16$" 
170° 

180° 
185° 
190° 

Totals 



TABLE XI 

Regular Reagents (Text, p. 44) 

Brightness-Discrimination. Before Training 

(Judgments on 90 variables) 



12 
10 
10 

5 

I! 
12 



% R 66.7 
% U 17.8 



Aw. 



Na. 



Ya. 



5 W U %R R W U %R R W U %R 



.80 
.67 
.67 
•33 

■73 
.80 



II 

10 

4 

3 

8 
10 



3 

5 

9 

10 

6 

5 



■73 
.67 
.27 
.20 

•54 
•67 



10 

7 
4 

7 
II 



60 14 16 



46 6 38 
42.2 



47 



21 22 

52.2 
24.4 



•54 
.67 

•47 
.27 

•47 
.73 



(21 Days' Training on Sound during an interval of 64 days) 



TABLE XII 

(Text, p. 44) 

Brightness-Discrimination. After Training 

(Judgments on 90 variables) 



Aw. 



Na. 



Ya. 







f 
•R 


W 


U 


%R 


r 

R 


w 


u 


%R 


f 
R 


W 


U 


%R 


ifio" 




IS 
13 
10 
10 








1. 00 


14 


I 





•93 


12 





3 
8 
6 
8 


.80 


165° 
170" 

17^" 




I 
2 
2 


I 
3 
3 


.87 
•67 
.67 


8 

7 
4 


4 
4 

7 


3 

4 
4 


•54 
•47 

•27 


5 
4 
I 


2 

5 
6 


•33 
•27 
.07 


180" 
185" 
190° 




5 
II 


6 

2 


4 
2 


.33 

•73 


7 
12 


I 
2 


7 

I 


47 
.80 


12 
13 


2 



I 
2 


.80 

.87 


Totals 


64 


13 


13 




52 


19 


19 




47 


15 


28 






%R 
%U 


71.1 
144 








57.8 
2I.I 










52.2 
3I.I 





TffO 



APPENDIX A 



TABLE XIII 

Regular Reagent Cr. (Text, p. 44) 

Brightness-Discrimination 



Before Training 
Degrees (Judgments on 76 Variables) 
of White R W U % R 



no* 


8 





2 


.80 


120° 


6 


I 


2 


.67 


130" 


5 


3 


2 


.50 


135" 


6 





4 


.60 


140" 










145" 


2 


2 


6 


.20 


150" 


4 





5 


•44 


160" 


6 





3 


.67 


170" 


7 





2 


.78 


Totals 


44 


6 


26 




%R 






57.5 




%U 






33-7 





After Training 
(Judgments on 80 Variables) 
R W U %R 

10 o o i.op 

10 O O I.OO 

8 I I .80 
4 2 4 40 

7 2 I .70 

9 I o .90 

10 O O I.OO 

10 O O I.OO 



68 16 



85.0 

7-5 



TABLE XIV 

(Text, p. 43) 

Sound-Discrimination. Beginning Training 

(Judgments on 60 Variables) 



Intensity 



23-57 
25.06 
26.48 
27.83 
29.12 
30.35 
32.68 



Aw. 



Na. 



Ya. 



Cr. 



%R 
%U 



R W U%RR W U%RR W \3 %R R W U%R 



5 2 .30 

S 3 .20 

5 4 -lo 

1 3 .60 

2 3 50 
2 3 50 



2 .50 

4 .30 

5 .50 

6 .10 
5 .30 
I .50 



1 .30 

4 .10 

2 .50 

5 .40 

3 60 
I .70 



3 -40 



.50 
.60 



3 -40 
3 40 
2 .40 



Totals 22 20 18 



36.7 
30.0 



22 15 23 

36.7 
38.3 



26 18 16 

43.3 
26.7 



27 17 16 

450 
26.7 



Intensity 



TABLE XV 

(Text. p. 43) . 
Sound-Discrimination Ending Training 
(Judgments on 60 Variables) 
Aw. Na. Ya. 



Cr. 





R 


W 


U %R 


R 


W 


1 
U %R 


R 


W 


U 


%R 


R 


W 


U %R 


23-57 


6 


4 


.60 


5 


2 


3 


■50 


5 


4 


I 


•50 


6 


4 


.60 


25.06 


3 


5 


2 .30 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


3 


5 


2 


•30 


6 


4 


.60 


26.48 


2 


3 


5 20 


4 


3 


3 


.40 


3 


2 


5 


.30 


6 


2 


2 .60 


27.83 






























29.12 


8 


2 


.80 


5 


2 


3 


.50 


5 





5 


.50 


b 


2 


2 .60 


30.35 


6 


2 


2 .60 


2 


5 


3 


.20 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


4 


4 


2 .40 


32.68 


6 


4 


.60 


5 


5 





•50 


4 


4 


2 


.40 


6 


2 


2 .60 


Totals 


31 


20 


9 


25 


19 


16 




24 


16 


20 




34 


18 


8 


%R 






51.7 




41.7 




40.0 






56.7 






%U 






15.0 




26 


.7 




33.3 






U-3 







TABLE XVI 

Control Reagents. (Text, p. 44) 
Brightness-Discrimination. Before Interval 
(Judgments on 60 Variables) 
Rl. An. Wr. 



Degrees 


R 


W 


U 


%R 


<R 


W 


U 


%R 


r— 

R 


W 


U 


%R 


of White 


























160° 


8 





2 


.80 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


8 


I 


I 


.80 


165° 


7 


I 


2 


.70 


5 


3 


2 


■50 


7 


3 





.70 


170° 


5 


4 


I 


.50 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


7 


2 


I 


.70 


175° 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


4 


3 


3 


.40 


7 


3 





.70 


180° 


























185° 


7 


2 


I 


.70 


6 


2 


2 


.60 


10 








1. 00 


190° 


10 








1. 00 


8 


I 


I 


.80 


7 


3 





.70 


Totals 


41 


9 


10 




31 


13 


16 




46 


12 


2 




%R 






68.3 






51.7 








76.7 






%u 






16.7 






26.7 








3-3 







(46 Days' Interval Without Training) 

TABLE XVII 
Brightness-Discrimination. After Interval 
(Judgment on 60 Variables) 
Rl. An. Wr. 





/ — 








f — " 








r- 






N 


Degrees 


R 


W 


U 


%R 


R 


W 


U 


%R 


R 


W 


U 


%h 


of White 


























160° 


9 





I 


.90 


4 


3 


3 


.40 


9 


I 





.90 


165° 


8 


I 


I 


.80 


3 


4 


3 


•30 


10 








1. 00 


170° 


3 


I 


6 


.30 


4 


2 


4 


.40 


5 


2 


3 


•50 


175° 


4 


4 


2 


.40 


4 


3 


I 


.40 


4 


3 


3 


.40 


180° 


























185° 


5 


2 


3 


.50 


7 





3 


.70 


6 


4 





.60 


190° 


9 


I 





.90 


8 


I 


I 


.80 


9 





I 


.90 


Totals 


3S 


9 


13 




30 


15 


15 




43 


10 


7 




%R 






63.3 






50.0 








71.7 






%U 






21.7 






25.0 








II.7 







2JA 



APPENDIX A 



TABLE XVIII 

(Text, p. 44) 

Comparison of Data (Absolute Amounts) 

Regular Reagents 



A. Right Judgments 



Tests 

No. R. Before 
No. R After 

Difference 
Training in Sound 
No. R at Beginning 
No. R at End 

Difference 



Aw. 

60 
64 

+4 

22 
31 

+9 



Na. 

46 
52 

+6 

22 
25 

+3 



Ya. 

47 

47 



26 

24 



B. Undecided Judgments 



Aw. 



Na. 



Ya. 



Cr. 

46 
68 

+22 

27 
34 

+7 



Cr. 



Total 

199 
231 

+32 

97 
114 

+17 



Total 



Tests 
No. U Before 
No. U After 


16 
13 


38 
19 




22 

28 


27 
6 


103 
66 


Difference 
Training in Sound 
No. U at Beginning 
No. U at End 


—3 

18 
9 


—19 

23 
16 




+6 

16 
20 


— 21 

16 
8 


—37 
S3 


Difference 


—9 


—7 




+4 


—8 


— 20 




Control Reagents 








c. 


R and 


U Judgments 






Tests 

Before and After Interval 

Without Training 

No. R Before 

No. R After 


Rl. 

41 
38 




An. 

31 
30 




Wr. 

46 
43 


Tota 

118 
III 


Difference 


—3 




—I 




—3 


—7 


No. U Before 
No. U After 


10 
13 




16 
IS 




2 

7 


28 
35 


Difference 


+3 




—I 




+5 


+7 



APPENDIX A 



273 



TABLE XIX 

(Text, p. 44) 

Comparison of Data (Relative) 

(All per cents are reckoned upon the whole number of judgments 

represented in table) 

Regular Reagents 



Tests 
Per cent R Before 
Per cent R After 



A. Right Judgments 
Aw. Na. 



66.7 
71.1 



Si.i 
57.8 



Ya. 
52.2 

52.2 



Cr. 

57.5 
85.0 



Differences 



+15 +5 —3.3 

B. Undecided Judgments 



Tests 



Aw. 



Na. 



Ya. 



Cr. 



Total 

56.9 
66.0 



Diflference 


+4-4 


+6.7 





+27.5 


+9.1 


Training in Sound 












Per cent R Beginning 


36.7 


36.7 


43.3 


45-0 


40.4 


Per cent R End 


51-7 


41-7 


40.0 


56.7 


47.5 



+H.7 +7.1 



Total 



Per cent U Before 
Per cent U After 


17.8 
14.4 


42.2 
21.1 


244 
31.1 


33.7 

7.5 


29.4 
19 


Difference 
Training in Sound 
Per cent U Beginning 
Per cent U at End 


—3.4 

30 
IS 


— 21. 1 

38.3 
26.7 


+6.7 

26.7 
33.3 


—26.2 

26.7 
13.3 


— 104 

30.4 
22 


Difference 


—15 


—1 1.6 


+6.6 


—13-4 


-8.4 


C. 


Control 'Reagents 
R and U Judgments 








Tests 

Before and After Interval 

Without Training 
Per cent R Before 
Per cent R After 


Rl. 

68.3 
63.3 


An. 

51-7 
50 




Wr. 
717 


Total 

65.5 
61.7 


Diflference 


-5 


—1.7 


- 


-5 


-3.8 


Per cent U Before 
Per cent U After 


16.7 
21.7 


26.7 

25 




11.7 


15.5 
19.4 



Difference 



+5 



—1.7 



+84 



+3.9 



274 



APPENDIX A 



TABLE XX 

(Text, p. SI) 
Orders for Cards 
12362145346315425641324352651652615342314 

Continue Orders i & 4 — 612451364 
Continue Orders 2 & 5 — 652361346 
Continue Orders 3 & 6 — 652451362 

Changes of Equivalence 





R. 


Y. 




G. 


B. 


Br. 


Bl. 


Order i 


I 


2 




3 


4 


5 


6 


Order 2 


6 


I 




2 


3 


4 


5 


Order 3 


5 


6 




I 


2 


3 


4 


Order 4 


4 


5 




6 


I 


2 


3 


Order 5 


3 


4 




5 


6 


I 





Order 6 


2 


3 


Coloi 


4 

^ed 

Fellow 

Green 

B\ne 

Brown 

Black 


5 


6 


I 



By reversing the above 6 Orders the 12 Orders were made up. 



APPENDIX A 275 

TABLE XXI 

(Text, pp. 53, 54, 56, 57) 

Reactions on Typewriter (per lOo) 

A, Before Training 

CI. AI. Cr. Bs. 







I 


» 






/ 




Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


71 


2 


94 





73 


3 


/o5.5 


8 


71 





104 


4-5 


74 


4 


105.4 


2 


7Z 


I 


102 


5 


71.6 


I 


99.3 


3 


79 


I 


85 


I 


83 


4 


99-7 


7 


8i 


1-5 


81 


5 


75 


3.5 


96.4 


6 


79 


0.5 


86 


2 


7^.5 


3 


87.7 


5 


72 





78 


I 


71.2 


4-5 


79-4 


4 


75 


2 


82 


5 


71 


4.5 


88.2 


I 


71 





80 


I 


69.8 


4-5 


83.2 


3 


71 


I 


79 


6 


71 


4 


94-7 


4 


73 


3 


76 


3 


71.5 


I 


89.7 





66 


I 


75-6 


8 


73.2 


4 


93-2 


5 


66.8 


2.6 


75.4 


5-5 


68.2 


4 


82.S 


4 


68.4 





75.8 


7 


69.5 


3.5 


80.8 


3 


69.4 





70.4 


5 


69 


2 


71.8 


I 


68 





70.8 


6 


67.4 





lOI.I 


4-5 


65.8 


2 


70.4 


7 


674 


6 


84.S 


4 


73-1 





82.2 


4 


69.4 


3 


85.S 


6 


70.4 





81.2 


5 


71.3 


5 


84.1 


4 


69 


o.S 


81.7 


4-5 


67.8 


6 


79-6 


3 


64.8 


I 


79.1 


4.5 


68.4 


6 


81 


2 


70.4 


2.5 


77-9 


7.5 


66.8 


3 


78.6 


5 


66.1 


1-5 


73.8 


3 


68.1 


2 


74-3 


4 


65-7 


0.5 


69-5 


7 


67.1 


3 


85.5 


II 


59-4 





7A.(> 


6 


66.4 


4 


81.6 


7 


64.8 


2.5 


73.8 


10 


68.1 


2 


74-5 


2 


63.8 


0.6 


74-7 


8 


65.3 


I 


75.8 


3 


63.5 


I 


73.1 


8 






80.9 


6 


62.4 





70.5 


2.5 






82.6 
77.1 
76.3 


7 
5 
3 








B. After 


Training 








CI. 




Al. 




Cr. 




Bs. 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


643 





67.9 


9 


65.2 


3 


69.6 


ID 


64 


I 


64.2 


6.5 


643 


5 


68.3 


8 


61 


0.5 


62.6 


5-5 


69.2 


6 


72.8 


8 


63.5 


1.5 


65.6 


II 


68.2 


5 


69.4 


8 


62.9 


1-5 


64-3 


10 


66.2, 


5 


72.7 


5 


63 


2.5 


66.3 


6 


65.2 


4.5 


71.6 


8 


61.2 


I 


63.1 


12 


60.8 


2 


68.8 


3-5 


60.9 


1-5 


61.8 


II 


61.2 


5-5 


69.2 


2 


62.3 


I 


62.1 


15 


61.5 


7 


71.8 


5 


61 


I 


66.5 


II 


6i 


3 


65.7 


0.5 


61.6 


1-5 


61.5 


8.5 


64.2 


6 


69.3 


7 


60.9 





62.3 


10.5 


62 


5 


69 


2 


62.6 


2 


63.2 


17 


62.2 


4 


66.4 


8 


57-9 





60.5 


11.5 


58.8 





65.5 


3 


61.9 


1-5 


60.8 


13-5 


62.5 


5 


59-2 


3 


60.6 


1.5 


58.9 


10 


61 


7 


69.S 


II 


60.5 


I 


60.9 


15-5 


63.5 


8 


70.7 


10 


59.2 


0.5 


61.6 


13 


61.9 


9-5 







276 APPENDIX A 

TABLE XXII 

(Text, pp. 53, 55, 56) 
Reactions on Typewriter (Avg. per lOO per Day) 

A. Before Training 
CI. Al. Cr. Bs. 





\ 


f 


— "^ \ t 


^ 


/ 




Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


71 


2 


94 


73 


3 


99.5 


5 


76 


0.9 


93 


4 76.0 


3 


87.3 


3 


73-5 


I.I 


80.0 


3 71.2 


3-5 


84.0 


4.5 


67.4 


I 


73.1 


6.3 69.1 


3 


80.1 


5.3 


69 


I.O 


79.3 


4.5 69.1 


5 


77-9 


4.3 


63.3 


0.8 


72.7 


7 67 
B. After Training 


4 






63.3 


I 


65.2 


8 66.4 


4.5 


70.7 


8 


61.3 


I 


62.9 


II 62.1 


4-5 


69 


3.3 


60.4 


I 


61.0 


13 61.7 


5.4 


66.3 


6 



TABLE XXIII 

(Text, pp. 53, 56, 57) 

Reactions on Typewriter (per 100) (Control Reagents) 

Before Interval 
Mn. Ge. Gs. 



/ 


^ 


1 


\ 


/ 


\ 


9I.I 


2 


147-3 


7 


1 07. 1 





95.7 


3.6 


125.7 


4 


79.1 





9I.I 


6.5 


154-2 


3.5 


79-9 


1.5 


93.7 


6 


157.9 


3.5 


84-8 


2.5 


86.1 


5 


131.8 


2.5 


85.8 


1.5 


86.7 


8 


133.6 


2 


854 


I 


76.7 


3.5 


106.2 


3 






ys.s 


3 


1 16.5 


2 






76& 


8 


119 


2 






70.9 


8 


127.2 


0.5 






7Z 


7 


111.7 









71.7 


14 


118.1 


I 






78.1 


5 


82.2 


I 






739 


6 


90.8 


1-5 






76.8 


8 


95.5 


2 






73,7 


6 


97.4 


I 






74 


5 


106.6 


I 






67.4 


8 


100.6 
99.7 

After 


I 
2 

Interval 






73 


4 


91.4 


1.5 


86 





73.4 


3 


84.2 


I 


76.4 


2 


704 


7 


82.2 





83.7 





68.4 


2 


104.9 


3 


77.1 


0.5 


68.7 


6 


91.7 


3 


82.5 


3 


70 


5-5 


88.7 





77.4 


I 


70.7 


3 


83.4 


0.5 






69.6 


3 


81.7 









66.7 


5 


91.5 


2 






64.6 


II 


95.1 


3.5 






63.3 


6.5 


82.5 


I 






62.3 


8 


82.9 


I 







Day 

3/3 I 
3/5 2 



3/8 



3/10 



3/12 5 



3/15 6 



APPENDIX A 277 

TABLE XXIII (Con.) 
Second Group, Control Reagents 





Before Interval 








Bd. 




Bh. 




Bs.2 




Cf. 


[02 


7 


/ ^ 

100 


3 


100 


7 


128.4 I 


93-4 


14+ 


84.2 


6+ 


87.6 


5 


112 I 


92.6 


13+ 


744 


8+ 


82.8 


I 


118 I 


«7.4 


7+ 


75 


5+ 


75.8 


4+ 


100.8 


86.6 


5+ 


78 


5 


72 


2+ 


102.6 


86 


5+ 


76.8 


7 


70S, 


3+ 


96 


80 


7 


76.4 


7 


7Z 


2 


93-4 I 


84.2 


5+ 


79 





72.8 


3+ 


92.4 I 


81 


7 


72.4 


I 


73 


3+ 


88 2+ 


774 


4 


80 


4+ 


68.4 


2 


80.8 


73-2 


3+ 


76.2 


2 


66.4 


3 


87.2 


79 


3+ 


76.2 


3+ 


68.6 


4 


87 I 


76 


4 


734 


4 


68.6 





88.6 I 


71.2 


3 


76.6 


4 


62.6 


I 


81.8 


67.1 


3 


74.2 


2 


65.6 


I 


78.2 


72.6 


4 


72.4 


6 


67 


5 


88.4 I 


71.6 


5+ 


72.4 


II 


62.8 


3 


80.8 2+ 


72.8 


4 


75 


5+ 


61.2 


3 


80.4 


68.8 


3 


74 


6 


62.4 


4 


86.2 I 


69.4 


2 


71.8 


7+ 


64.8 


3 


80.8 I 


66 





67.4 


8 


62.6 


I 


77.8 


68.6 


3 


66.4 


8 


63 


6 


76.8 


67 


7 


64.8 


13+ 


67.6 


4+ 


75 


66.6 


2+ 


654 


7 


62.6 


3 


74.8 


67.6 


3+ 


66.2 


10 


60.4 





74 


65.6 


I 


70 


7 


61.6 


4+ 


73.6 I 


63.2 


1+ 


66.6 


6 


694 


I 


68 


66.2 


3+ 


63 


7 


60 


2 


70.4 I 


64.6 


5 


62.2 


5 


62.4 


3 


74 


65.4 


4 


64.6 


II 


60.4 


6 


714 2 


65.4 


2 


60.6 


5 


62.2 


4 


75.2 0+ 




.(4/f^r Interval 








64.6 


2+ 


70.4 


2 


63 


2 


75.2 2 


62.6 


4 


62.6 


6 


58.6 


3 


65.2 I 


65 


2+ 


62.4 


5 


60.6 


4 


694 


63.8 


2 


58.ot 


4 


60.4 


6 


71.6 1+ 


66 


4 


61.4 


5+* 


59.6t 


2 


65.2 I 


65 


6 


6i.4t 


8+* 


S7.6t 


4+ 


62.2 I 


62.8 


4 


64.4 


4 


58 


7 


67.6 2 


634 


4 


60 


4 


584 


4 


64.4 2 


60 


5 


61.2 


7 


56.6 


6 


68 


61 


5+ 


61.6 


4+ 


54 


4 


67 


61 


3-t- 


59-6 


6 


54 


3 


70.4 I 


59-2 


7+ 


57.8 


5 


55 


5 


66.2 


58.6 


7 


59-6 


3 


54.8 


4+* 65.8 2 


56.8 


3 


56.6 


6+ 


57.6 


3 


57 


61 


7+ 


59 


8+ 


57.6 


5 


64,2 


60 


8 


60 


5 


58.2 


3 


65.0 2+ 


58.6 


7 


61.6 


7 


59.2 


4 


68.6 



* Over 10 reactions one place late,— a distinct process of reaction which 
greatly decreases the time. 
t Memory of the beginning of the series. 



27? 



IPPENDIX A 



TABLE XXIV 

(Text, p. 56) 

Reactions on Typewriter (Avg. per 100 per Day) (Control Reagents) 

Before Interval 
Mm. Ge. Gs. 



1 


^ 


( \ 


90.7 

74-1 
74 


5 

7-5 

6.3 


141 .8 4 
1 16.5 1.3 
96.1 1.5 

After Interval 


70.7 
66.2 


4.5 
7 


90.S 1.3 
86.2 1.3 



80.5 



TABLE XXIV (Con.) 
Second Group Control Reagents 
Before Interval 
Bd. Bh. Bs.2 



Cf. 



102 


7 


100 


3 


100 


^ r 

7 


128.4 


I 


87.7 


8.5 


77-5 


6.3 


77.0 


2.8 


103.8 


0.5 


78.5 


4.3 


76.2 


2.3 


69.6 


2.5 


87.3 


0.8 


70.7 


3.7 


74.1 


5.7 


63.6 


2.8 


82.6 


0.7 


67.5 


2.8 


67.0 


7.2. 


63.5 


2.8 


76.5 


0.2 


6s.i 


2.7 


64.5 


6.8 


62.7 


z-:i 


72.1 


0.7 






After Interval 










64.5 


3.2 


62.7 


4.8 


60.0 


3-5 


68.8 


I.O 


61.2 


A-7 


60.8 


S.o 


56.0 


4.8 


67.3 


0.8 


59.0 


6.4 


59-4 


5.8 


57.5 


3.8 


64.1 


0.8 



g 




ps 




i 


w w 


t^ 


>. >. 


E^ 






t> 


— ! 

o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


00 


t- 


*o 


y 


u> 


o> 





I 

Pt 
■*> 

M 

« 
O 

c 

o 

s 



I 



> 



o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


c> 


o 


a* 


00 


fr- 


«o 


to 


o 


o> 


00 


t- 


«o 



282 APPENDIX A 

TABLE XXV 

(Text, pp. S3, 54, 56) 
Card-Sorting Reaction (per loo) 
CI. Al. Cr. Bs. 



1 




1 


\ 


(- 


\ 


<■ 


\ 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. ] 


Errors 


113 





136.6 


2 


130.2 





1JJ.8 





I00.6 





134 


5 


122.4 


^ 


127.6 


I 


I1I.2 





119.2 





108.6 


3 


1 1 7.8 


4 


I034 





1 16.4 


2 


112 


3 


129.4 


2 


96.8 





123 


I 


112.2 


2 


124.2 





9Z-2 


I 


109 


2 


103.8 


2 


111.8 


3 


99.8 


I 


J05.6 


3 


96.2 





^/5 





101.8 





1034 


2 


97-2 


I 


107-5 


3 


92 









105.4 


2 


109.5 


4 






101.6 


4 


100.6 


6 


104.5 


2 


89.3 

















89.4 





97.6 


3 


98.4 


2 


101.4 


I 


88.6 





91.6 


I 


102.6 


7 


87.4 


5 


88 





91.4 


I 


99 


2 


100 


2 


90.4 





96.2 


8 


97 


I 


99-2 


2 


91.6 





92.2 


3 


95-4 


2 


100.8 


2 


87.9 





94-8 


4 


88.2 





96 


3 


93 









91.8 


6 


99-2 


I 


90.6 





91.8 


3 


92.4 


3 


98.4 


2 


904 





91.6 


3 


90.6 


4 


95.5 


I 


go 


I 


88 


2 


88.8 


2 


100.5 


4 


91.8 





89.8 


5 


93-4 


3 


96.5 


6 


93.4 





88 


5 


96 


2 


97-5 


3 


92.2 





90.2 


3 


96.2 


5 


109 


7 


85.4 





91.4 


2 


89.8 


4 


103.S 


6 


94.5 





87.2 


4 


95.5 


5 


97 


5 


90.4 





91.4 


4 


92.4 


2 


95-5 


2 


«4.5 





91.8 


4 


94.8 


5 


103 


3 


81.5 





96 


4 


95-2 


2 


102 


5 


81.S 





98 


9 


92.4 


I 


9^-5 


I 


85 


2 


100.4 


7 


89.2 


2 


89 





89 





96.6 


4 


91-5 


I 


105 


8 


8S 





91.8 


3 


88 


3 


95-5 


I 


89.2 


I 


96 


4 


92 


5 


90.5 


3 


86,4 





94.8 


3 


91-5 


3 


89.5 


2 


^5-5 





88.4 


6 


Sp.^ 


I 


89.5 


2 


82 





90.4 


4 


86.2 


6 


88 


I 


79.5 





89.8 


7 


97 


4 


92 


5 


79 


I 


94.2 


5 


97-5 


4 


90.5 


I 


81 









93 


2 


88 





83.S 









96 


5 


87 


I 


82 









93.5 


6 






81 









88.5 

91-5 

95.5 

93-5 

94 

92.5 

96 
92 
92 
91 


6 
2 

14 
2 

7 
4 
4 
5 
8 

4 
3 







APPENDIX A 

TABLE XXVI 

(Text, p. 53) 
Card-Sorting Reaction (Avg. per loo per Day) 



283 



a. 



Al. 



Cr. 



Bs. 



Sec, 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


Sec. 


Errors 


106.8 





135.3 


3.5 


126.3 


I 


127.2 


1.8 


107.3 





1 17.8 


I 


110.3 


3 


118 


1.5 


97.9 


0.5 


116 


i.S 


102.4 


1-3' 


109. 1 


1.5 


90.6 





102.9 


3 


102 


4-3 


97 


2.5 


89.1 





94.2 


Z-i 


94-9 


1.3 


98.6 


2 


90.8 





93.S 


3-5 


90.9 


3.8 


98.2 


3-5 


90.2 


0.5 


90.5 


2 


93.9 


3-5 


106.2 


6.5 


90.7 





88.9 


5 


94.6 


3.5 


99.4 


3.8 


92.6 





90 


3-3 


90.8 


1.5 


95-5 


2.3 


83.1 


0.5 


96.5 


6 


90.8 


3 


89.4 


2 


87 





94.2 


3.5 


87.7 


3.5 


89.4 


1.8 


87.3 


0.5 


95.4 


3.5 


95-9 


3.8 






81.5 


0.3 


90.7 


5.5 


92.8 


6.2 






8r.9 









931 
91-5 


5.3 
3-5 







TABLE XXVII 

(Text, pp. 57, 58) 

Comparison of Gains Between Training Periods 

Typewriter-Reaction 





Training Reagents 
(4th and 5th Days, in 
Practice.) 


Control Reagents 
(4th and 5th Days 
after Interval.) 


Avg. of 2nd and 3rd Days 

Avg. of 4th and 5th Days 


a. 

70.5 
66.1 


Al. Cr. 
76.6 70.0 
76.0 67.9 


Bs. 
86.0 
79 


Mn. Ge. 
74 105.5 
68.4 88.4 


Gain 
% Gain 
Avg. last two Days before Card 

Practice 
First two after 


4-4 
6 

66.1 
62.3 


0.6 2.1 
0.8 3 

76.0 67.9 
64.0 64.3 


7.0 

8 

79 
69.9 


5.6 17.1 
7 16 


Gain 
% Gain 


3.8 

6 


12.0 3.6 
16 5 


9.1 
12 








f 

I 









\ 

I 
/ 

\ 

I 

( 

\ 

. ) 



y 

I 



/ 

) 



( 
/ 

i) 

S t 

r ) 



<7 






& 



/ 



a 



m 

o \ 



/ 



\ 



/ 



2 



OO o ooo o o 

®cv» O OO'^C* O CO 



9 



ill 




o o o o o o 

<0 CM «H o a> 00 




o o o o 

r« O Ok OO 



iW 




rm 



o o o o 

r-l O 0» 00 
r-f iH 




II I I I I I 






§ 



o o 
CO ca 



o o o o 
p-« o a» 00 



APPENDIX A 



TABLE XXVIII 
(See Text, footnote pp. 58-9) 

Time per pack of 50 cards, sorted by suit into four compartments, showing 
the influence of practice in the typewriter-reaction. 



Total 



Total 



Diff. 



Before Interval 
Regular Reagents 



Control Reagents 



Bd. 

55 
57-5 I 
55 
50 


Bh, 
55.4 
51 
52.6 
48 




I 
I 

I 


Bs.2 
52.4 
54-6 
SO 
52.6 I 


Cf. 
62.4 I 
70 
67 
67 


Cn. 

57.4 
52.4 
53.6 I 
48 I 


Sn. 
48.8 
50.6 

49 
50.6 


— » 



I 


I 


217.5 I 


207.0 


3 


209.6 I 


266.4 I 


21 1.4 2 


199.0 


2 








After Interval 








56.6 I 
54-2 I 
52 
52 4 


SI 
SO 
49.8 
46.8 


I 
2 

3 
3 


52.8 5 
53.4 5 
52.2 3 
50.6 3 


61.4 
56.4 
57 
57 


60 I 
53.8 I 

52.6 s 


S1.4 
49.8 
S0.6 
52.4 








214.8 6 


197.6 


9 


209.0 16 


231.8 


221.4 9 


204.2 





— <2.7 

— 1.2 


—9.4 

—4.5 


-0.6 
—0.3 


—34.6 
—13.0 


+10 
+4.7 


+5.2 
+2.6 





APPENDIX B 

(Presenting data relevant to the Experiment on Attention, pp. 76-17^-) 







e 





Q 


e 


Q 



Fig. 2. (See p. 76) Arrangement of com- 
partments in cabinet for card-sorting. 



Fig. I 
Symbol on cards 

Cardsorting 
Instructions to reagents 

1. This is a test in "reaction with discrimination and choice." On each of the 
packs of fifty cards the time and errors will be recorded. Speed, therefore, 
should be aimed at, yet the sorting should be accurate. Time will be saved 
if you get a dependable mental scheme of the compartments rather than 
directly matching the cards, which, although necessary at first, makes sorting 
wait upon the eye. — 

2. In the final introspections of the day note : 

(a) Any special hindrances or helps to the sorting, 

(b) Your mental scheme, if any, 

(c) Any development or change in your scheme, 

(d) What demanded attention most? Any tendency to name or 

pronounce ? 

(e) Whether the sorting is fatiguing, 

(i) Any bodily strain, 
(2) Any mental strain, 

(f) Whether sorting is agreeable or otherwise, 

(g) Any change in these respects from previous introspections. (Ap- 
plicable only after the first day.) 

3. In introspections noted between packs mention briefly a few of the 
more important points about the process of sorting that occur to you. 

4. Look over the cards on the cabinet so you will be able to distinguish 
the symbols readily. 

5. The procedure will be : 

(a) Arrange first pack conveniently in hand, and take position com- 

fortably before the cabinet. 

(b) Throw on the table the blank, at announcement of "Go!" 

(c) Sort cards, aiming for speed and accurate work. As last card 

leaves hand announce "Now !" 

(d) Note brief introspections. 

(e) Like procedure with remaining three packs, taking them in order. 

(f) After the last pack of the day, note your introspections in fuller 

form. 

Fig. 3 (See p. 76) 



APPENDIX B 289 

aatanetntaeneaatanetntaeneeaeneatntenatta 

tanetnaene 

Fig 4. Sample series of stimuli used in the typewriter-reaction (see pp. 52, 76). 



Poets 


Philosophers 


Statesmen 


Scientists 


Musicians 


Homer 


Plato 


Pitt 


Faraday 


Beethoven 


Virgil 


Socrates 


Gladstone 


Darwin 


Wagner 


Shakespeare 


Aristotle 


Washington 


Huxley 


Mozart 


Milton 


Kant 


Jefferson 


Watt 


Hayden 


Browning 


Locke 


Lincoln 


Tyndall 


Bach 


Tennyson 


Hume 


Webster 


Agassiz 


Mendelssohn 


Goethe 


Hegel 


Roosevelt 


Galileo 


Handel 


Whittier 


Pythagoras 


Napoleon 


Helmholz 


Verdi 


Poe 


Spinoza 


Bismark 


Newton 


Paderweski 


Longfellow 


Descartes 


Burke 


Ohm 


Paganini 



Fig. 5. The names of men in the classes used for Controlled Reaction. 

(See p. 77) 



Series I 


Series 2 


Series 3 


Series 4 


Series 5 




Homer 


Darwin 


Socrates 


Aristotle 


Browning 




Pitt 


Virgil 


Shakespeare 


Hayden 


Lincoln 




Beethoven Wagner 


Huxley 


Kant 


Bach 




Faraday 


Gladstone 


Milton 


Watt 


Tyndall 




Plato 


Mozart 


Washington 


Jefferson 


Locke 




Series 6 


Series 7 


Series 8 


Series Q 


Series 10 




Hume 


Roosevelt 


Napoleon 


Verdi 


Descartes 




Agassiz 


Galileo 


Goethe 


Bismark 


Ohm 




Mendelssohn Hegel 


Helmholz 


Paderweski 


Paganini 




Webster 


Handel 


Whittier 


Poe 


Burke 




Tennyson 


Pythagoras 


Spinoza 


Newton 


Longfellow 




Fig. 6. The series 


of names as 


presented. (See 


p. 77) 






(a) Intervals 




(b)S 


)eries 




No. 


1 \ 
Scale Intensity*^ 


I, 2 3, 4 5 


,6 7, 8 


9, ID 


I. 


20.16° .5 




I 2 


3 4 


5 


2. 


23.57 -7 




7 8 


9 I 


2 


3. 


25.06 .8 




S 6 


7 8 


9 


4. 


26.48 .9 




2 3 


4 5 


6 


5. 


27.83 i.o — No 


rm 


9 I 


2 3 


4 


6. 


29.12 I.I 




4 5 


6 7 


8 


7. 


30.35 1-2 




8 9 


I 2 


3 


8. 


32.68 1.4 




3 4 


5 6 


7 


9. 


34.85 1.6 




6 7 


8 9 


I 



* From Fechner : Psychophysik. S. 181. 

Fig. 7. Intervals of intensity, and series as presented in Sound Discrimination. 
In the Series, No. 2 is the reverse of No. i. (See pp. 77, 78, 188.) 



290 APPENDIX B 



Fig. 8. 







Greater, 

Less, 

Like, 

Doubtful, 


> 

< 

III 
? 




Symbols 


used in recording 
(See 


JU( 


dgments 
78) 


in Sound Discrimination. 


I 2 


Series 
3 


4 


5 






3 4 

1 3 

4 I 

2 4 

3 2 

2 3 

4 2 
I 4 

3 I 

4 3 


2 

4 

I 

3 

2 

4 

2 

3 
I 

2 


2 
I 

3 

2 

4 
2 

3 

I 

4 
2 


I 
4 

2 

3 

2 
I 

3 
4 

2 

I 




Intensities* 

1 = 10° = 0.12 

2 = 25° = o.Bo 

3 = 40° = 2.10 

4 = 60° = 5.00 


*From Fechner's Psycho' 
physik, I :i8i). 



Fig. 9. Series of sounds in the test on Memory of Sounds. 
(See p. 78) 

Series of letters and figures 



1 




/ 


\ 


f 


\ 


< 


\ 


1 


\ 


(a) 


(b) 


(a) 


(b) 


(a) 


(b) 


(a) 


(b) 


(a) 


(b> 


K 


4 


C 


5 


P 


7 


G 


6 


L 


8 


S 


7 


V 


8 


H 


I 


L 


9 


G 


2 


B 


5 


J 


6 


Z 


8 


C 


7 


M 


9 


M 


2 


B 


3 


K 


5 


H 


4 


P 


6 


F 


6 


S 


7 


B 


9 


P 


8 


S 


I 


P 


I 


H 


2 


S 


4 


F 


3 


B 


5 


H 


3 


W 


4 


P 


6 


M 


5 


K 


7 


C 


8 


T 


9 


C 


2 


B 


I 


C 


3 


L 


2 


D 


3 


G 


5 


S 


4 


H 


6 


G 


9 


K 


I 


N 


3 


K 


2 


P 


4 



Fig. 10. The series of (a) consonants used in the test on Memory of Con- 
sonants, and the series of (b) Digits used in the test on Memory of 
Numerals; also (c) the pairs presented in the test on Memory of asso- 
ciated Pairs. (See p. 79.) 



APPENDIX B 



291 



(Y 



o 
A 

Fig. II. The series of symbols 
used in the test on Memory 
of Visual Signs. 
(See p. 79.) 

M — 

G 

C 



RN 

Fig, 12. Reproduction of size and 
style of letter and spacing used 
in tests on Learning 12-Conson- 
ant-Rectangles. (See pp. 80, 82.) 



W- 
S- 
Q- 

N- 
S- 
B- 
W- 



- R 

L 

M ■ 
-N 

W- 

R 

T 

W 

R ■ 
-S - 



-D 

-N 
-T 
-N 
-L 
-R 
-R 
-N 
-M 



Fig. 13. The letters used in the test on Word-CompJetion. (P. 80.) 




Reagents 



Practice Curves. 

BtteneiTS Threshold of Visual Attention. Bcpoeure of 12-letter« 
rectangles l/lO See. Curves show average number of Points per day} 
three points is the value of a correctly placed reproduced letter. 

The curves do not indicate that the training of 19 days had 
brought the capacity to its nwatlnial efficiency. 



Says r 



5 6 1 8 9 10 U 12 13 

Fig. 14. (See text, pp. 83, 93) 



"R — 15 16 17 »- 



2^2 



APPENDIX B 




15 



10 



Beagent* 
SI. 



Practice Currea, 

Learning 12-letter-rectanglee. Bipoavre 10 See. Curve* 
•how average maaber of points per experiment per day^ three 
points is the value of a reprodueed letter correctly placed. 

Maximal efficiency had not yet been attained. 



Days 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 910UU13 14 15 16 1fflS 

Fig. is. (See text, p. 94) 



Saster Vacation 




Ssys 



"9 10 n 12 13 14 15 16 17 IB 

Fig. 16 
Analysis of Rt.'s Practice Curve in Learning 12-Ietter-rectangles, accord- 



APPENDIX B 



293 



ing to complexity of process, showing change in complexity during practice. 
The curves show the number of letters reproduced from rectangles according 
to the imagery from which they were recorded; e.g., on the first day 80 letters 
were recorded from rectangles upon which the Kinaesthetic (verbal) imagery 
alone was used, 40 letters from rectangles upon which Kin. and Visual 
imagery were coordinated, 17 letters from rectangles for which the three- 
fold coordination of Kin. + Associations + Vis. imagery was used. (See 
text, pp. 95, 176.) 

At the beginning most of the work was done in Kin. A. imagery which 
as a single-fold method disappeared on the 6th day. The two-fold method 
was dominant on the 4th, 5th, and 6th days. From the 7th day the three- 
fold and four-fold coordinations predominated. The course of practice is 
toward greater complexity of the process. 

Easter vacation caused a lapse to the status of learning of the 6th day, 
after which the same development in complexity of coordination takes place 
as that on the 7th and 8th days. 



ut- 
ter* 
ISO 

140 
130 
120 
110 
100 

90. 

80. 

70 



Reagent Rt« 



Kinaeethetle 

_ . . Visual 

_ Aeaoelatlona 




"i 3 4 5 6 5 5 § 10 11 i5 13 14 iS Ti i? io 

Fig. 17 

Analysis of Rt.'s Practice Curve in Learning 12-letter-rectangles, according 
to the number of letters reproduced from each kind of imagery during the 
day, disregarding the complexity of method in coordinations,^ e.g., on the first 
day 125 letters were reproduced from Kinaesthetic (Verbal) imagery, 18 from 
Visual imagery, and 8 from Associations. (See text, p. 174.) 

Associations for Rt. were usually visual images of words, as "Chemically 
Pure" for holding the letters C P. 

It is evident that the principal rise in the practice curve is caused by the 
growing frequency of Visual and Association letters, i.e., by the growth in 
the process of the auxiliary forms of imagery. The letters reproduced on 
the I2th day are similar to those reproduced on the 3d day in that they are 
alphabetic symbols; in the mind of the reagent, however, they differ greatly 
in kind of letter — they are more dominantly visual and visually word-bound 
symbols, less rote-letters in the muscles of the tongue. 



294 



APPENDIX B 



ReagaBt Ul 



— First Third. 

— Sseond *rhira. 

— Third Third. 




Fig. i8 

Curves show distribution of Reaction to Sound in the first, second and 
third thirds of Ly.'s training (iioo reactions) ; only the reactions with the 
Morse key at lOOngram tension being chosen (270 reactions). Reactions from- 
91 to 100 sigma are plotted on 100. (See text, p. lOi). 

Practice-effect involved change in processes. 



APPENDIX C 

Scoring the 12-letter-rectangle 

If a single score is to measure the power of reproduction, it must give 
value to a reproduced letter when it is misplaced in the lecord ; and it would 
seem that this value should be less than the value given to a correctly placed 
letter, and should vary with the degree of spatial reproduction as indicated 
by the amount of misplacement. Any system of values, nevertheless, is arbi- 
trary, since it will favor some methods of learning and reproduction more 
than others. 

Let the following scheme represent the relative positions on a 12-letter- 
rectangle : 

j c b a a = Correct position, and may be in any 

space on the card. 

b = Adjacent space on the line, 
k g f d c = Second remove on the line. 

d = Adjacent space in the column. 

e = Second remove in the column. 
1 i h e f = Space adjacent at corner. 

Etc. 
If the reproduced letter belongs in position a, in the above scheme, (and 
that may be in any space on the card), we may compare several ways of 
scoring noticed in the text (p. 80) : 

Points Text (i)' Winch= Smith* Text (2)* 

3 = a a a a 

2 = b, c, j b, d b, c b, d, f 

I = d, e c, e d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1 c, e, g, h, i, j, k, 1 

o = f, g, h, i, k, 1 f, g, h, i, j, k, 1 

A rote method of learning by the line would be favored by Text (i) and 
Smith, for its misplacements would be more frequently made within the line ; 
by the column, by Winch, for a similar reason. A visual reproduction would 
be favored by Text (2), since / is a proximate location; and vague repro- 
duction by Smith and Text (2), since they oflfer no zero value for repro- 
duced letters. In partial justification of the zero value it may be urged that 
over half of the consonants of the alphabet are on the card, and that mere 
guessing would raise the score of reproduction in over half of the guesses, 
especially when some of the consonants are known and the chance for correct 
guesses is consequently increased. If the letters are really reproduced, 
however, they should contribute to the score. 

Perhaps the assignment of values should not be made until all the mis- 
placements of a given reagent are tabulated and the various kinds of mis- 
placement are compared with degrees of reproduction as revealed by an 
analysis of his mental processes; then the values could be assigned with 
reference to the degree of reproduction, which might be found to decrease 
with the frequency of the kinds of misplacement. 



^P. 80. 

=• Winch: Br. Jr. Psychol. 1:129; also Whipple's Manual (ist ed.) p. 369. 
'Smith: Mind. N. S. 4:52. The writer's interpretation of the rather 
indefinite text is given here. 
*P. 187. 



296 APPENDIX C 

Such a tabulation was made of the results from 20 experiments by each of 
ten reagents in Tests 13 and 17, and it was found that although there was 
considerable variation between the different reagents in the number of letters 
misplaced in 20 experiments (12-44, with an average of 15% of all reproduced 
letters in Test 13; 7-38, with an average of 29% of all reproduced letters in 
Test 17), within each test large individual variation in the kind of misplacing 
involved a few kinds only (in Test 13, misplacings c and d; in Test 17, b, d, 
and /). If frequency as found in the aggregate results would not call for a 
division of these particular kinds of misplacing into different classes for 
evaluation, a system of evaluations upon the basis of aggregate results might 
be available for general application. This condition is fulfilled, as may be 
seen from the following tables, but it necessitates a separate system of 
evaluations for each of the two tests. 

All of the misplacings of all of the reagents in each test were tabulated 
and calculated with the following aggregate results (reduced to the average 
number of letters so placed in one experiment) : 



r 


lesi 


U 


■> 


' 


- ■ 1 c; 


>L 1/ 


\ 


J 


c 


b 


a 


J 


c 


b 


a 


.01 


•215 


.42 


6.97 


.015 


.065 


.285 


2.245 


k 


g 


f 


d 


k 


g 


f 


d 


.015 


.085 


.11 


.26 


.020 


.080 


.160 


.200 


1 


i 


h 


e 


1 


i 


h 


e 


.01 


.025 


•03 


•03s 


.000 


•045 


.015 


.045 



But these amounts show the actual distribution of misplacings ; if we 
assume that a misplacement which occurs more frequently should be penalized 
less in the score measuring reproduction than one which occurs less fre- 
quently (introspections are not full enough to indicate clearly v/hether it 
should), our system of arbitrary values could not be taken from the distribu- 
tions shown above for the reason that the chance of making some misplacings 
is much greater than that of making others ; e.g., in chance guessing the 
misplacement / would occur 24 times to / 4 times. We should need this 
distribution as modified by the relative chances of the misplacings. 

The Ratio of Recorded to Chance Misplacings would seem to meet this 
need. If position a is moved systematically over the card, occupying in turn 
every one of the 12 spaces, there would aggregate 132 possible misplacings 
distributed over the lettered relative positions as follows : 24, f ; 18, b ; 16, d, 
g; 12, c, h ; 8, e, i, k; 6, j ; 4, I. According to these chance values of the 
positions the 1.27 misplacings (per experiment) of Test 13, and the 0.93 
misplacings per experiment of Test 17, could be distributed ; position d, in 
Test 13 would then have the value of .153 instead of .26, the ratio of its 
actual occurrence to chance occurrence being 1.70. These ratios calculated 
for all the relative positions are presented in the following table: 



APPENDIX C 297 

Ratio of Recorded to Chance Misplacing. 



j 


C 


^6 
b 


a 


J 


0.17 


1.87 


2.44 




•35 


k 


S 


f 


d 


k 


.20 


.56 


.48 


1.70 


•35 


1 


i 


h 


e 


1 


.27 


•33 


.26 


.46 


0.00 



les 
c 


b 


■77 


2.24 


g 


f 


•71 


•95 


i 


h 


.80 


.18 



d 

1.77 

e 
.80 

But it might be objected that we do not still have a measure of the relative 
frequency of the respective misplacings, since owing to the reagent's direction 
of his attention to one portion of the card rather than to another, the letters 
which in reproduction were misplaced may not have been distributed evenly 
over the 12 positions. Calculation sustains the objection so far as it suspects 
irregular distribution over the positions : The range in Test 13 is 13 (in 
the 1st position) to ss (in the 7th position) ; in Test 17, 7 (positions 9 and 
11) to 41 (position 4). When the actual chances for the respective misplac- 
ings are calculated, however, the results showing relative frequency of mis- 
placings are substantially the same as in the tables above : 

Ratio of Recorded to "Actual" chance misplacing. 

t Test 13 ^ / Test 17 > 

jcbaj cb a 

.20 1.87 2.33 .30 .77 2.39 

k g 

•22 .53 



f 


d 


k 


g 


f 


d 


•44 


1.67 


■33 


.69 


•96 


1.71 


h 


e 


1 


i 


h 


e 


■27 


•49 


.0 


.86 


.21 


.86 



1 i 

•32 .35 

And if instead of pooling the results of 20 experiments by each of a dozen 
reagents we use the 450 experiments (like Test 17) by a single reagent (Mn.), 
in which the habits of attention may be expected to be more uniform and 
consequently more disturbing to our calculation on the basis of "regular" 
chance, the range in irregular distribution being from 4 (position 10) to 
47 (position 4), and the number of reproduced letters misplaced being 242 
(5%), we get the following remarkable approximation to the ratios with 
"regular" chance distribution : 

Ratio of Recorded to 
/—"Regular" Chance Misplacing--. ^'Actual" Chance Misplacing— ^ 

jcbaj c b a 

.28 .41 3.22 .26 .41 3.32 



k 


g 


f 


d 


k 


g 


f 


d 


.55 


.62 


.92 


1.18 


•52 


.61 


.96 


1.19 


1 


i 


h 


e 


1 


i 


h 


e 


.27 


.34 


.27 


.41 


.26 


.34 


.28 


41 



298 APPENDIX C 

There is little doubt therefore that these tables furnish us with fairly 
reliable relative frequencies of the respective misplacings in these two tests. 
Upon the assumptions that the more frequent misplacing should be penalized 
less in the score, that three points shall be the value of a correctly placed 
letter, that in the interest of facility fractional values shall be avoided, and 
that great injustice is not likely to result in striking an approximate balance 
between over-evaluation and under-evaluation of respective misplacings, it 
would seem that the following values might be recommended : 

Test 13. (Exposure 10 sec.) Test 17. (Exposure i/io sec.) 

3=a 3=a 

2 = b, c, d, 2 = b, f , d, 

I = all others. i = all others. 

The arbitrariness of forcing this qualitative difference in reproduction into 
a quantitative difference, has already been remarked. The g or i misplacings 
are only by courtesy to the strenuous statistician to be regarded as possessing 
one-half the reproductive value of misplacings b or d, and one-third the 
reproductive value of a correctly reproduced letter. Disregarded also is the 
partiality to visual memory: letters retained in vivid visual imagery keep 
their relative positions ; letters reproduced from equally vivid auditory or 
kinaesthetic imagery may be free from either temporal or spatial order. 

The values listed under Test 17 are those employed in our Text (2) method 
of scoring. It will be remembered that exposure of the card was about a 
tenth of a second; it is for this reason that /^ is a proximate position. 

Upon re-scoring Tests 13, and 17, the average scores were found to range 
in points from 15.5 to 27.3, and from 4.1 to 9.1, respectively, and to 
increase only 0.36, and 0.61 points, respectively. Our Test (i) method was 
unsatisfactory, therefore, principally because it is an arbitrary method, and, 
like many mental test methods of measurement, confuses process and product. 
Its difference from other methods of scoring, equally arbitrary, has no bear- 
ing on our treatment of results, which, the reader has noted, is principally 
qualitative. 



APPENDIX D 

Influence of Subliminal Dififerences upon Judgment in Stimulus Comparison 
(Discrimination) (See Text, p. 185) 

In experiments on Sensible discrimination in which the Method of Constant 
Changes, Right and Wrong Cases, is employed, it is commonly observed that, 
if the steps between stimulus-differences are small enough, iR Cases (correct 
judgments on "greater" or "less") fall off regularly with the decrease in 
stimulus-difference even when these steps fall below the difference which is 
conventionally designated as the "Least Noticeable Difference." (50% R Cases. 
vid. Ktilpe : Outlines of Psychology, p. 69; or Titchener : A Text-book of 
Psychology, p. 213). This influence of "subliminal" differences upon judg- 
ment in stimulus comparison may be illustrated from our own data, if we 
aggregate the judgments of all reagents upon each of the intervals (stimulus- 
differences) in the respective tests and practices in Sensible Discrimination. 

If we call the interval between the variable of least intensity and the norm 
the first, and the interval between the variable of greatest intensity and the 
norm the last (7th or 9th), we get the following table of R Cases, in per cent: 

Interval abed 



I 77 


92 


85 


78 


2 67 


65 


57 


70 


3 49 


50 


31 


59 


4 39 


31 


23 


38 


5 = Norm 








6 59 


49 


41 


41 


7 79 


55 


53 


• 62 


8 


76 


74 


65 


9 


84 


84 


75 



(180 judgments on each interval, 14 
(160 judgments on 



a ^ Discrimination of Brightness 
reagents) 1904-5. (Text, pp. 42ff.) 

b = Discrimination of Sound with Sound Pendulum 
each interval, 16 reagents) 1910-1911. (Text, pp. I34ff.) 

c = Discrimination of Sound with Sound Pendulum (120 judgments on 
each interval, 12 reagents) 1911-1912. (Text, pp. 2o6ff). 

d = Discrimination of Sound with Fall Phonometer (96 judgments on each 
interval ( 2 reagents) 1911-1912. (Text, i88ff). 

The facts of the table are more apparent in the curves drawn from it : 

Intervals 1 23 45 678 « 

lOOf. Nora 




The "Least Noticeable Difference" is 50% R Cases. 



INDEX 

(For the Name Register consult the Bibliography). 

Adding Test, 5. 

Anomalies in experimental results, 65 ff ; causes of, 68. 
Anomalous practice-effects, in tests on Learning 12-letter-rectangles, 
153-4; on Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention, 163, 173; 
on Recognition or Choice of i of 2 Letters, 201 ; on Reproduc- 
tion and Recognition of Letters on 12-consonant-rectangles, 205; 
on Memory for Visual Symbols, Immediate Memory, 215. 

Association, with areas of rectangles, 7, 8 ; with weights, 8. 

Associations, representative vs. auxiliary, in memory experiments 
24; a 'common factor,' 26; occurrence of, in training on Exten- 
sive Threshold of Visual Attention, 85, 92 ; in training on Learn- 
ing 12-letter-rectangles, 95 ff, 98ff ; in tests on Memory of Con- 
sonants, 143; Digits, 146; Visual signs, 148; paired associates, 
149; Learning 12-letter-rectangles, 151 ff; learning with dis- 
traction, 155-6. 

Attention, a 'common factor,' 19, 23 ; Experiment upon, 70 ; measure- 
ment of, 70 f; tests of, 72, 106 ff; training of, 73, 82 ff; our 
tests inadequate for measurement of, 183. 

Blickensderfer typewriter, used in training on typewriter-reaction, 
51, in tests, 76, yy. 

Card-sorting, reported from the literature, 10, 11, 12, 14; in ex- 
perimentation: {Training) : 50-1, changes in processes in, 62; 
(Tests) : procedure in, 75-6; cabinet for, 75; test results,_ii8 ff ; 
variability in processes in, 119 ff; change in processes during test 
in, 122-3. 

Cancellation test, reported from the literature, 9; marking out a's 
and o's, procedure, 75; test results, ii4ff; variability in proces- 
ses in, ii4ff; see Marking out words, 34. 

Changes in processes, 68; see also. Tests; as, Reaction to Sound, 
Cancellation, etc., see also. Practice. 

Chinese Legation, training and efficiency of, 3. 

Cicero, 23. 

College Grades and professional success, 3. 

Color perception, 6, 7. 

'Common Factor,' The, as found by Ebert and Meumann, 19; by 
Fracker, 22 ; by Sleight, 28 ; in Marking out words, 36 ff ; analy- 
sis of, 224 ff; formerly thought simple, now complex, 224; 
quest for, through analysis of processes, 226 ff, and of the 
effect of practice upon these processes, 227 ff ; formal factors 
found, 230; is a formal factor in 'Spread of Training,' is 
material of experience in 'Transference,' 230; relative promi- 



302 INDEX 

nence of these two kinds, in the literature, 230-1 ; both selected 
from experience, 231 ; provisional classification of possible, 232; 
summary, 239. 

Complete learning, in memory experiments, 17, 212. 

Complexity of process, in discrimination of sound, 47-8 ; in estimat- 
ing weights, 41 ; see also Tests, Training, and Analysis of 
Common Factor. 

Consciousness, Eight-level clearness in content of, in Extensive 
Threshold of Visual Attention, 88 fif. 

Control experiments, in Sensible Discrimination, 44 ; in Reaction with 
Discrimination and Choice, 52 ; in Experiment on Attention, 73 ; 
on Reproduction, 186. 

Controlled Reaction, (Test) : Apparatus and procedure, 77; test re- 
sults, 131 ; variation in processes, 131 ; change in processes dur- 
ing test, 133. 

Critique of Test-Training-Test type of experiment, 219; necessity 
for analysis of processes, 219; illustration by hypothetical ex- 
periment, 220 flf ; merely quantitative treatment of results worth- 
less, 221 ; consequent meaninglessness of Probable Error as in- 
dex of reliability, 221 ; tests should include sufficient number of 
experiments, 223 ; should be limited in number, 223 ; can be made 
equivalent by use of Miiller's 'cyclical changes,' 223 ; training 
should be more rigorous, 223 ; control reagents should be equal 
to the regular reagents in number and ability, 223-4 ; mathemat- 
ical treatment of results may be simple, 224 ; summary, 239. 

Cross-education, 3 f. 

Danish language discriminates between the general and special efifects 
of practice, 33. 

Discrimination of sound intensities, (Test) : In Experiment on At- 
tention, Apparatus and Procedure, 77-8; test results, 134; 
analysis of processes, 135; variability in processes, 136 f; 
(Training) : In experiment in Sensible discrimination, 42fT; In 
Experiment on Reproduction, 188 ; analysis of processes, 190 ff ; 
'Free judgments,' 191; 'classification,' 192-3, 195; 'personifica- 
tion,' 193 ; Change in processes in practice, 193 ; individual differ- 
ences, 190-196; quantitative results, 196 ff; no improvement in 
capacity, 197-8; (Test) : In Experiment on Reproduction: Pro- 
cedure, 188; results, 206; analysis of processes, 206: individual 
differences, 207-210; Interference, 209-210; retrogression in ca- 
pacity due to indirect methods of dealing with stimuli, 210; 
range in initial capacity, 211. 
Discrimination of touch, 6; of colors, 7; of pitch, 7. 

Distraction, Habituation to, 5, 6. 

'Double Fatigue Order' for eliminating practice-effect in tests, 223. 

Drill, coming into vogue again, 242. 
Eminence and training, 3. 



INDEX 303 

Estimating Weights, Experiment on, 39; effect of training in, 41 ff ; 
variability in and complexity of processes, 41. 

Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention, (Test) : apparatus and 
procedure, 81; test results, 160; variability in processes, 161; 
with distraction 163; (Training): Results, 82 ff; analysis of 
processes, 83 ff, 91 ff, 93 f ; development of 8-level clearness of 
content, 88-89; factors of improvement, 94; variable influences 
upon the score, 87-88, 91 ; scoring the 12-letter- rectangles, 295. 

'Faculty Psychology,' alleged basis of Formal Discipline, i, 2. 

Formal Discipline. Definition, i ; assailed by eminent educators, i ; 
evidence to support, 3 ff ; training and eminence, 3 ; college 
grades and professional success, 3 ; Rhodes Scholars vary with 
rigor of training, 3; relationship between school capacities, 3; 
the data of 'cross-education,' 3-4 ; the data from the literature of 
experimental psychology, 5 ff. 

Formal training, 241. 

General Effect of Special Practice, 178 ff, 218-9, see also 'Transfer- 
ence,' and 'Spread of Training.' 

Habituation to distraction, 5. 

Herbartians, 2. 

Herbartian Psychology, 2. 

Imagery : Visual forms, 22 ; varying value of, 23 ; vicarious func- 
tioning of, 22, 23-4, 28, 48 ff, 136 ff, 139 ff, 148, 191 ff, 211 ff, 
217; coordination of fourfold content, in Learning 12-letter- 
rectangles, 96 ; 'maturing' vague, 83, 85 ff, 89 ff. 

Individual differences, causes of large, 69. 

Individual variation, in training on Tachistoscopic work, 91 ff, 94 ff ; 
in test results, 82 ff, 167 ff, 199 ff ; see also Variability. 

Inducted effect of state of alertness from experimenter to reagent, 
83-84. 

^Interference,' 10, 23; in the less simple processes, 11; drops away 
rapidly with time, 11 ; in relation to practice-effect, 14; caused 
by change of form of response, 2y ; provision for testing for, in 
Discrimination of sound, 185, 209, 210 ; compared to negative 
special effect of special practice, 219. 

Introspection, function of, 181, 220, 224, 226, 240; limitation of, 
185, 203, 226; on the 'intervals' or 'moments' of an experiment, 
187, 199 ff. 

Laboratory experimentation, contribution of, and limitations of, 
241. 

Learning 12-Consonant-Rectangles: (Test): Apparatus and pro- 
cedure, 80; results, 150; analysis oit processes, 151 ; variation and 
changes in processes, 151, 152, i74ff; method of scoring, 295; 
(Training): 94 ff, 98; Changes in processes during training, 
94 ff, 98 ; factors in improvement, 97 f , loi ; influences upon 
score in, 97, loi. 



304 INDEX 

Learning process, related to general effect of special practice, 240; 
see also Practice-Curve. 

Letter-squares, scoring of, 80, 82, Appendix C. 295. 

Marbe color mixer, 43. 

Marking Out a's and o's {Test), procedure, 75; results, 113, 116; 
variation in processes, 114, 116. 

Marking out Words, Experiment in, 34 ff ; change in processes in, 
37; variability of processes in, 37-9; anomalous processes in, 
38, 68 ; 'common factor' in improvement and transference, 36 ff ; 
see also Word-Marking. 

'Maturing' vague imagery, 83, 85 ff, 89 ff, 174, 204. 

Mean Variation, as a measure of attention, 108. 

Memory, Immediate, 16. 

Memory for colors and odors, 28; for non-sense-syllables, 14, 15; 
for poetry, 15, 20; for intensities of sound, grays, tones, numbers 
etc., 20 ; for school material, 24 ff ; for poetry and non-sense- 
syllables, 29; for visual symbols, {Test) : procedure, 188; 
analysis of processes, variation in processes, 21 1-4; vicarious 
functioning of imagery, 211 ff; range in initial efficiency, 214, 
215; advantage of trained reagents, 216, 217. 

Memory of intensities of sound {Test) : Apparatus and procedure, 
78; results, 138; analysis and variability of processes, 139 ff; 
change in processes during test, 141; of Consonants {Test): 
Apparatus and procedure, 79; results, 142 ff ; analysis of, varia- 
bility and change in, processes, 142 ff; of Numerals {Test): 
apparatus and procedure, 79; results, 145 ff ; analysis of, varia- 
bility and change in, processes, 147; of Visual Signs {Test): 
Apparatus and procedure, 79; results, 148; analysis of, varia- 
ation in processes, 148; of paired associates {Test) : Apparatus 
and procedure, 79; results, 149; analysis of and variation in 
proceses, 149. 

Memory-training, 23. 

Memory-training with mnemonics, 103. 

Mental processes, relations between, 2 ; variability in, 70 ff ; see Tests 
and Practice-Curve. 

'MentalTests,' contribution to popular notion of the nature of, 108. 

Method of Constant Changes, Right and Wrong Cases, 43, 78, 
190 ff, 206. 

Miiller's 'cyclical changes' for making successive tests equivalent in 
difficulty, 223. 

Per Cent, form of statement, for showing change in efficiency, 67-9, 
224. 

Plateaus of growth demand effort, 242. 

Practice, changes processes, 227 ff ; rate of improvement as related 
to initial efficiency, 124, 222; changes of processes during, 222; 
"Good form" in, 240 foot-note. 

Practice- Curve, 173; Learning 12-letter- rectangles involves changes 



INDEX 305 

in complexity of processes, 95, 175-6, 292-3, and in kind of pro- 
duct, 174, 293 ; changes in simple reaction to sound, loi f. 294. 

Practice-effect, permanence of, 64 foot-note, 64, 67; general and spe- 
cific, 32-3, 64; negative, in learning 12-letter rectangles, 154; 
involves changes in processes, 174; see 'Transference,' and 
'Spread of Training.' 

Professional success and college grades, 3. 

'Psychergograph,' The, 126; improvised from typewriter, 51. 

Reaction to classes of men, as, Poets, Philosophers, etc., upon auditory 
stimulus of names of individual men, as Plato, Browning, etc., 
See Controlled Reaction, yy, 131. 

Reaction to sound {Training) : In experiment on Reproduction, 
loi if; change in processes in, loi flf; (Test) : Procedure, 74; 
results, 108. 

Reaction with discrimination and choice, Experiment in, 50 ff ; errors 
are correlated with longer time for series, 54 ; causes of errors, 
55 ; see Typewriter-reaction, and Card-Sorting. 

Reaction-time, 9. 

"Recognition or choice of one of two letters," (Test) : Procedure, 
186; results, 199; analysis of and variation in processes, 199; 
quantitative analysis, 200; choices distributed according to cer- 
tainty, 201 ; in "uncertain" choices, time is a function of R 
cases, 202 ; influence of preceding cards, 202-3 ; 'maturing' of 
'fringe' imagery, 204. 

Reproduction, (Tests) : (i) Recognition or Choice of One of Two 
Letters, 186, 199; (2) Reproduction and Recognition of Letters, 
187, 205; (3) Sound Discrimination, 206; (4) Memory for 
visual symbols, 201; Experiment on, 184 fif; Procedure in tests, 
186; results, 199 fif; results illustrate worthlessness of purely 
quantitative treatment, 205 ; anomalous results, 206 ; variation 
in processes, 206; results of training on Sound Discrimination, 
188 flf. 

Retina, transference of fixation motives from fovea to periphery, 30. 

Reversible perspective, 30. 

Rhodes Scholars, 3. 

Rhythm, a 'common element,' 26, 27. 

Scholarship varies with rigor of training, 3. 

School capacities, 3. 

Score, influences upon in Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention, 
87-88, 91 ; in Learning 12-letter-rectangles, 97, loi ; influence of 
method on, 152; made unreliable by including large practice- 
eiTect, 221 f. 

Scoring the 12-letter-rectangle, 295. 

Sensible Discrimination of Sounds and Brightness, Experiment in, 
42 f{; transference shown 46; analysis of process, 47 f. 

Sensitivity, limen for light lowered by simultaneous sensation of 
sound, 5, 6. 



3o6 INDEX 

'Special' practice, always somewhat general, 13, 32-3, 172, 180-1 . 
218 f. 

'Specific training' said to be specific in its effects, 28. 

'Spread of Training' as defined by Fracker, in which the common 
factor is a conscious or subconscious connection, 225 ; as used 
in this text involves spread of modes of mental processes, which 
contrasts with 'Transference' of content of experience, 230; 
experimental test for, 184; a case of negative, in memory for 
visual symbols, 216, and from simple reaction to typewriter- 
reaction, 181 ; positive, from 'literal' prose to visual symbols, 
215, 216. 

Statistical treatment of results: Per Cent form of statement, 67, 68, 
69, 224; see Critique of the Test-Training-Test type of experi- 
ment, 219 ff. 

Subliminal Differences influence judgment in Sensible Discrimina- 
tion, 185, 299. 

Tachistoscopic work; see Extensive threshold of visual attention, 81, 
83 ff, 160 ff; Learning 12-letter- rectangles, 80 f, 94 ff. 150 ff; 
Memory tests, 79, 142 ff ; Reproduction tests, 186, 199 ff. 

Tapping, {Test): Procedure, 81 f; results, 164, variability in pro- 
cesses, 165. 

Tests : 'Cyclical changes' for making successive tests equivalent in 
difficulty, 223; 'Double fatigue order' for eliminating practice- 
effect, 223; see Marking Out Words, Sensible Discrimination, 
Reaction with Discrimination and Choice, Reaction to Sound, 
Cancellation, Cardsorting, Typewriter-reaction, Controlled Re- 
action, Memory, Learning 12-letter-rectangles, Word-comple- 
tion, Trains of ideas, Extensive Threshold of Visual Attention, 
Tapping, Reproduction. 

Trains of ideas, (Test) : Procedure, 81; results, 158; variability in 
processes, 159. 

'Transference,' causes of, 19, 22, 28, 63-64, 65 ; as defined by Fracker, 
225 ; as used in text involves the concrete material of experience, 
and contrasts with 'Spread of Training,' 184, 225, 230; anoma- 
lous cases of, 65 f , 68 f ; causes of anomalous cases of, 68 ff ; dis- 
agreement of data and conclusions, 67 f ; case of negative trans- 
ference from maps to card-sorting, 181 ; see also General Effect 
of Special Practice. 

Typewriter, used to prepare material for Marking Out Words, 35 ; 
used in Reaction with Discrimination and Choice, 51 ff; used in 
, typewriter-reaction, 76 ; used in Controlled Reaction, yy ; experi- 
ment in learning to use the, 30. 

Typewriter-reaction, reported from the literature, 11 f; (Training) : 
Procedure and results, 50^1 ; change in processes during train- 
ing in, 63; (Test) : Apparatus and procedure, 76; results, 126; 
analysis of, variability and changes in, processes during test, 

I29ff. 



INDEX 307 

Variability of mental processes : Extent of radical change in method 
during tests, 167 ff; extent of variation in initial capacity of 
reagents, 169; causes of, 171 ff ; see test results and training re- 
sults of the various tests ; as. Reaction to Sound, Cancellation, 
etc. 

Voluntary control, 4, 30; in typewriting, 30 ff; in drawing, 30; in 
reversible perspective, 30. 

Visual imagery, a 'common factor,' 23, 26 ; increased in use but not 
in power by training, 30 ; see Imagery. 

Word-Completion, {Test): Apparatus and procedure, 80; results, 
analysis of processes, variation in processes, 157. 

Word-making, reported from the literature, 9; see Marking Out 
Words. 



BIOGRAPHY 

John Edgar Coover was born on a prairie farm near Remington, 
Indiana, March i6, 1872. In infancy he moved with his parents to 
their early home in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he 
started to a village school in the winter of 1877-1878. In the Spring 
of 1878 his family moved to a farm in central Kansas, near Dorrance, 
where he attended a country school for about four years. Another 
removal to a still newer neighborhood, in the same county, resulted in 
poor school advantages for about six years. In the Autumn of 1890 
he went to school at McPherson College (sectarian, German Baptist 
or Brethren) where he finished his study of the common branches 
and learned short-hand and typewriting. In the Spring of the next 
year he entered an office on the Union Pacific Railway where during 
a little over a year's station work he learned telegraphy. 

In the Spring of 1892 he left home for Colorado (Denver) where 
he revived an early purpose to fit himself for teaching school. After 
considerable effort during a time while he worked as journeyman 
printer, and publisher of a country newspaper, he was enabled to 
enter the State Normal School of Colorado (Greeley) in 1893- 1894, 
from which he was graduated in 1898. After serving as principal of 
schools in Como, Colorado, for one year, he entered Stanford Uni- 
versity (California) (Autumn of 1899), where in January, 1904, he 
received the A.B. degree in Philosophy ; and in May, 1905, the 
M.A. degree in Psychology to which department he presented a 
thesis on "Formal Discipline from the standpoint of experimental 
psychology" (from which a report was published, in collaboration 
with Professor Frank Angell, in the American Jr. Psychol., 1907, 
18:328-340, under the title "General Practice effect of special 
exercise)." 

After occupying the principalship of the Tuolumne County High 
School (Sonora, California) for two years, and of the Dixon Union 
High School (Dixon, California) for three years, he returned to 
Stanford University, became assistant in the Department of Psy- 
chology, and pursued research for two years more, leading to the 
Ph.D. degree. 

Secondary and higher education had been pursued for 12 years, 
during which time expenses were met by earnings from short-hand 
and typewriting, printing, an assistant librarianship, telegraph oper- 
ating, and teaching. 

The present research occupied four school-years ; during three and 
one-half it was almost wholly experimental. 



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